From Me To You
by cerie.rose
Summary: How would Tony's life have been different if he had an 8 year old daughter? Well, she would have made him admit his feelings for Ziva for starters!
1. Destination Unknown

"From Me To You"

"I've got everything that you want/like a heart that is oh, so true/just call on me and I'll send it along/with love from me to you/I've got arms that long to hold you/and keep you by my side/I got lips that long to kiss you/and keep you satisfied/if there's anything you want/if there's anything I can do/just call on me and I'll send it along/with love from me to you."~From Me To You, The Beatles

A/N: So, I love stories that feature Tony as a Dad, because I think he would make a great father and also because he reminds me a lot of my own incredible Dad. So if you don't like Daddy Tony stories…you probably should not read this. Also this is major TIVA! I just LOVE them!!

Also, I apologize that I do not use many contractions. Like Ziva, English is not my first language. So I tried very hard to use contractions but I can't promise I did not revert back to my normal way of speaking.

Chapter 1~Destination Unknown

'I see life and it's passin' right before my eyes/And the past is the past don't regret it, time to realize/I need to walk on the wire just to catch my breath/I don't know how or where but I'm goin' it's all that I have left/It don't matter where it takes me/Long as I can keep this feeling runnin' through, my soul"~Destination Unknown, Marietta

Disclaimer: I own a lot of stuff, but unfortunately NCIS does not fall into that category.

As Tony looked up from his mountain of paperwork and across the bullpen to his bosses desk, his day was immediately brightened by the sound of his 8 year old daughter's laughter as she drew pictures with Gibbs. Natalie was still on break from school and she had begged and begged Tony to let her come to work with him. Of course it wasn't hard to get permission for Natalie to come, she had everyone at NCIS wrapped around her little fingers. Even Gibbs acted like a totally different person when he was around Natalie, he McGee and Ziva doted on Natalie as if she was their own daughter. And Tony didn't mind bringing her to work even when they were in the field because just like Gibbs, McGee, & Ziva, Abby and Ducky simply adored Natalie and were always happy to watch her while the agents were in the field. Just then Gibbs phone rang, he stood up from his desk and told Natalie that he had to go up and see Director Vance, Natalie sweetly gave him a hug and he made his way upstairs. With that, Natalie switched her attention to Ziva, who was more than happy for the distraction.

"Ziva would you color with me please?" Natalie asked Ziva as she walked up to her desk.

"Why of course darling!" Ziva said as she pulled Natalie up into her lap.

Tony's grin widened. Natalie loved all of Tony's NCIS team, Gibbs and Ducky were like the grandfathers she didn't have, McGee and Abby like the Aunt and Uncle she didn't have, and then there was Ziva, Natalie absolutely adored her as if she was her own mother. Natalie's mother had left when she was a baby and Tony was grateful that she would have Ziva for any girl problems she had as she got older.

"Ziva what are you going to do tonight?"

Ziva sighed, tonight was New Years Eve and it looked like for once the team was going to get lucky and have some time off, but of course this was the year she had no plans.

"Well, I think I am just going to stay home and have some quiet time, sweetheart."

"Why? It's New Years Eve, Daddy lets me stay up until 12 o'clock tonight!" Natalie exclaimed.

"Wow Natalie, that is such a big girl thing to do!"

"I know!! But Daddy says I'm a big girl so I get to do big girl stuff!"

Ziva laughed at Natalie's excitement, she definitely adored that little girl.

"Your Daddy is right, you are getting to be a big girl."

Natalie smiled brightly as an idea popped into her head and she jumped off of Ziva's lap and ran over to her Dad.

"Daddy, Daddy!" Natalie practically yelled.

"Whoa, lower the volume there Peanut." Tony said laughing.

"Sorry Daddy" Natalie said in almost a whisper. "Can Ziva spend New Years with us? Please please please?" Natalie begged.

Tony looked up at Ziva who seemed somewhat taken aback by Natalie's request. How the heck did Natalie know that honestly there was no one Tony would rather spend New Years Eve with besides her and Ziva.

"Of course she can Peanut, but you have to ask Ziva if she wants to."

Natalie ran back over to Ziva's desk, "Would you please please please come over to our house for New Years Eve?" Natalie asked.

Ziva looked down, Natalie's big green eyes she had inherited from her Dad were pleading with her to say yes.

Tony looked over, "Come on Z, it'll be fun. New Years Eve a la DiNozzo clan."

Ziva looked at Tony and then at Natalie, "okay" she said, "I will be there. Thank you miss Natalie."

Natalie smiled and gave Ziva a big hug. This made Ziva happy, she loved spending time with Natalie, the little girl always made her feel so carefree just…happy.

A minute later Gibbs came down the stairs, "Alright team, go home and enjoy your New Years."

Tony and Ziva quickly started packing their stuff.

Gibbs went to pick up Natalie, "Have a good New Years Eve Munchkin. Keep those two in line for me." Natalie giggled and gave Gibbs a big hug. And he kissed her on the forehead and setting her down. "I'm going to let McGee and Abby know we're done for the day, Happy New Year you two."

"Happy New Year Boss." Tony and Ziva replied together.

"Ziva, dinner is at 7."

"There is dinner involved in a DiNozzo New Years?"

"Of course! We have to be well fed to keep up with the festivities!" Tony replied as Natalie giggled at his enthusiasm.

"Okay, I will see you at 7. Thank you Tony and thank you Natalie, Ziva said, bending down to give Natalie a quick hug before they left.

They all three walked into the elevator.

This surely was going to be an interesting night.

A/N: I am writing this story while on a beach in Suva, Fiji and although the sun and sand are clearing my writers block, I apologize for any spelling or grammatical mistakes made because of my insanely high state of relaxation. PLEASE read & review! I will be extremely grateful!


	2. Taking Chances

Chapter 2~Taking Chances

"I just want to start again/maybe you could show me how to try/maybe you could take me in/somewhere underneath your skin/what do you say to taking chances?/what do you say to jumping off the edge?/never knowing if there's solid ground below/or a hand to hold or hell to pay/what do you say?"~Taking Chances, Celine Dion

Disclaimer: I own a lot of stuff, but unfortunately NCIS does not fall into that category.

Tony was freaking out. It was 5 to 7 and Ziva would be here any minute. Natalie was twirling round the house excitedly in her new dress in anticipation of Ziva's arrival. But Tony was nervous, he felt like he was on his first date. But, this wasn't a date, this was just a get together. This is not a date. He had to keep playing that in his head because if he let himself be frank, he really wanted it to be a date. The doorbell rang. Natalie bolted towards the door and flung it open.

"Ziva!!" She yelled excitedly.

"Hello my dear, you did not ask who was at the door like you are supposed to." Ziva said as she bent down to Natalie's level.

Natalie made her best I'm sorry face and responded, "I know but I knew it was you."

"Nevertheless sweetheart, always ask." Ziva said as she picked up the little girl.

"Ziva's right Peanut. You should always ask." Tony chimed in.

"Okay, sorry." Natalie responded.

"It's alright sweetie, your Daddy and I just worry about you and we want you to be safe." Ziva said as she kissed the little girl on the check.

'Your Daddy and I' Tony thought in his head, it made them sound like her parents. He liked that thought, a lot. And he loved how Ziva worried about Natalie just as much as he did.

"Well, look at how pretty you look tonight. Is this a new dress." Ziva asked Natalie.

"Yes! Daddy took me shopping and we picked it out." Natalie said grinning as Ziva set her back on the ground.

"Look, it twirls!" Natalie spun in circles and her dress twirled gracefully with her.

Ziva smiled, "oh it's beautiful, sweetheart."

"Hey pretty girl," Tony said to Natalie, "why don't you go wash up before we eat?"

"Okay Daddy!" Natalie said as she skipped down to the bathroom.

Tony looked at Ziva, noticing her hair was down and loose around her shoulders and she was wearing a pretty green silky top, dark jeans, and boots. She looked beautiful.

"Ziva," Tony said, "you look beautiful."

Ziva, somewhat surprised at Tony's bluntness, took a minute to reply to him. "Thank you Tony, you look great as well."

The two stood there smiling at each other for a minute until Natalie bounded back into the room.

"Come on I'm hungry!" She said as she grabbed Tony and Ziva by the hands and dragged them into the kitchen.

Ziva was taken aback at the sight she saw. The lights were dimmed in the kitchen and there were candles lit on the table, there was personalized place mats drawn by Natalie on each of their places at the table and Ziva could smell pasta and garlic bread.

"Pasta?" She asked.

"Yep," Tony replied, "the official food of the DiNozzo New Years Eve."

"It smells delicious." Ziva said.

Natalie and Ziva sat down at their seats while Tony served them their pasta, it looked delicious, fettucini noodles with pesto sauce with a side of steamed asparagus and mushrooms. Ziva had no idea Tony could cook.

"Well, lets eat!" Tony said as he sat down.

Throughout dinner Tony could not help but notice how genuinely happy Ziva looked. She smiled more while they ate then he had seen her smile in a long time and he loved that being with him and Natalie was what made her so happy. It felt right, it felt like a family.

The chemistry hadn't gone unnoticed by Ziva either, she felt happier than she had in a long time. She loved that they could talk about such simple things and they could bring her such happiness and listening to Natalie tell stories of her 3rd grade class made Ziva laugh more than she had in a long time. Ziva thought about Natalie's real mom, she loathed her for leaving Natalie. Ziva did not understand how she could abandon such a sweet, beautiful, and intelligent little girl. She would love to have a daughter like Natalie, actually she would just love to be able to call Natalie her daughter, and if she was honest with herself, Tony as her husband. But things had changed, they had changed, and Ziva did not know if they could go back. Even though she desperately wanted to.

They finished up their dinner and headed into the living room for the movie of the night.

The movie was The Princess Bride, the traditional DiNozzo New Years Eve movie.

Tony plopped down on the sofa and Natalie crawled up beside him and snuggled in.

Ziva, sat herself down on a chair next to them.

Natalie looked over, "Ziva, why are you over there? Will you sit by me please?"

Ziva paused for a minute, if she went over there she would be dangerously close to Tony and she did not know if she could handle that, but on the other hand if she did not go over there she would be disappointing Natalie, which was not an option. "Of course I will come sit by you sweetheart."

Ziva walked over and sat down next to Natalie who snuggled up to both Ziva and Tony.

They started the movie and about halfway through, Natalie was sound asleep.

Ziva looked over at a sleeping Natalie who was snuggled into her side. "She is going to be so upset she fell asleep before the New Year." Ziva said.

"Nah, I'll wake her up about ten minutes before the ball drops and she'll be fine. That way she gets a decent amount of sleep and she gets to see the ball drop." Tony said.

"Here I'll move her so that you can move around." he said as he pulled Natalie onto his lap and she snuggled into his side and the arm of the sofa, but she had been holding onto Ziva's arm and ended up dragged it with her and before Ziva could pull it away, it was across Tony. Ziva pulled her arm back slowly. But, then Tony surprised her by putting his arm around her and she decided to take a leap of her own and cozied up to his side and they continued to watch the movie.

Tony however, could not focus at all on the movie. Instead it was on the beautiful woman he was lucky enough to have his arm around. It was going to take everything he had not to kiss her at midnight.

Ziva was distracted as well, she loved how protected she felt with Tony's arm draped around her. All she could think about was how it was going to take everything she had not to kiss him at midnight, little did she know he was thinking the exact same thing.

The movie ended and Natalie was still sound asleep. Tony carefully moved Natalie to the chair and draped a blanket over her and proceeded to turn off the DVD player and turned the channel to Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve. It was a little past 11 o'clock.

"Want to have dessert?" Tony asked Ziva.

"There is dessert?" Ziva questioned.

"Ziva, Ziva, Ziva, remember this is New Years a la DiNozzo!"

Ziva laughed. "Of course, why did I even ask!"

"Tony went into the kitchen and came out a minute later with two slices of tiramisu.

Ziva was in awe, "you made this yourself?" she said in shock.

"I did. There's still a little bit about Anthony DiNozzo you do not know Miss David."

"Well, now there is even less." Ziva replied with a grin.

"That is true, which means I think you should tell me something I don't know about you."

Ziva thought about it, well there was one thing he certainly didn't know, the little fact about her still being in love with him even after everything that happened.

"Uh....I do not know."

"Come on Z, there's definitely a lot of stuff I don't know about you."

"Alright....I used to dance when I was little."

"Well, that's a start." Tony smiled.

Just then Michael Buble started singing on the TV and Tony had an idea.

"Prove it." Tony said.

"Prove what?" Ziva said, confused.

"That you can dance, dance with me."

"Tony I am not going to dance with you." Ziva laughed.

"Come on Z, please?" He replied. She loved when he called her Z.

"Okay."

They stood up and Tony, deciding he should make the first move, took her hand and led her to the middle of the room. He put his other arm around her and they moved along with the music.

Ziva looked up at Tony, she was so close to him it was making her nervous.

"You know Tony, this was not the kind of dancing I was talking about. I meant ballet and jazz dancing." Ziva said.

"I know." Tony replied with a grin.

Ziva gave him a questioning look, "then why…?"

"Because I wanted to dance with you." Tony said cutting her off.

"Oh."

"I hope this is okay?" Tony questioned.

Ziva smiled up at him, "It is more than okay, Tony."

A/N: Sorry for a slight cliffhanger, I promise I will have the next chapter up ASAP, it's already written for the most part. And okay so I have no idea who preformed on Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve because I was at the Pyramid Rock Festival in Australia for New Years so I just picked a singer that would work for my story. Also again, I apologize for any spelling or grammatical mistakes, I am still in Fiji. Also, I do not have a beta. And as always PLEASE read & review! Thank you thank you! I have more stories in the works and also the final chapters of this story, hopefully I will have them up soon!


	3. You Make It Real

First of all…thank you all so much for the reviews! You are wonderful.

Betherzz thank you for your questions, I totally forgot to clarify the time and setting! Thank you for reminding me! The story is set in season 7, post Faith pre Ignition. And Natalie's mother is definitely not Jeanne Benoit, yuck!! She is just a random woman I made up that Tony dated.

Second of all, I only have one more day in Fiji =[. But that means I will most likely get a lot of writing done on my insanely long flight back to New York! I will try to get everything I have already written or am in the process of writing posted before I leave for Haiti because I will not have any time (or probably any internet) to update while there. Also thank you for the reviews, please keep them coming! You all rock!

Chapter 3~You Make It Real

"There's so much craziness, surrounding me/There's so much going on, it gets hard to breathe/When all my faith has gone, you bring it back to me/You make it real for me"~You Make It Real, James Morrison

Disclaimer: I own a lot of stuff, but unfortunately NCIS does not fall into that category.

Tony and Ziva's eyes met as they dancing slowly around the room. Ziva could hardly notice anything else going on around them, in fact she did not even hear the music anymore. She was focused completely on Tony, on the way his feet moved, how his hands felt around her, how she could feel his breath warm on her face. She was so close to him, if she just turned her head up a little more, their lips would be practically touching.

And Tony was focused for the first time on how truly beautiful Ziva was, he had always known she was beautiful, hell that was why he was attracted to her in the first place when they had met almost 5 years ago, but for the first time he noticed little things that made her Ziva. How her dark brown hair was naturally curly and flowed perfectly around her shoulders, her piercing brown eyes that could always help him decode her mood, her small soft hands that fit so perfectly in his larger ones. He realized then how much he needed her, not as just a friend or a partner, he needed her to know he loved her. He suddenly stopped dancing.

She looked up at him, a little bit confused.

"Ziva," he began, "I have thought about this so many times, I have gone over it in my head for years and I always find an excuse not to do it, but if I am honest with myself, there is no excuse. I need you to know that I love you, and not just as a friend or a partner even though we are great at both of those, I love you in a way that makes my heart skip a beat every time you walk into a room, when you look sad or hurt or disappointed my heart aches for you and I just want to hold you until you smile again. I love you so much that when you stayed in Israel last summer, I didn't fight you on it because you being happy was more important to me than my own happiness even though it took everything I had not to run off that plane and make you come back, and when I heard you were dead, my world stopped turning. I have never before felt like my heart has been ripped out of my chest, I couldn't breathe without you. I love you Ziva, and we were so lucky that we were given this second chance so I needed to tell you how I felt, I needed you to know how I felt about you. And I won't say that it won't hurt me if you don't feel the same way, because it will, but more than anything I want you to be happy. You mean the world to me Ziva, and I think you deserve to know that you will always have someone to love you."

Ziva looked up at Tony, she did not know what to say. She felt this enormous sigh of relief and she had never been at a loss for words before. So she did the only think she could think of, she leaned up and she kissed him. The kiss was soft and slow, but it got her point across.

When their lips parted Tony was smiling, "I really hope that meant what I thought it meant."

Ziva smiled back, "It did, Tony. I love you, too."

Tony felt his heart beating fast, he pulled Ziva into his arms again and kissed her with all the passion he was feeling, it was a stunning kiss. They melted into each other as if they fit perfectly. As they broke apart they smiled at each other. Tony looked over to Natalie who stirred slightly in her chair.

"Well, it's about a ten until midnight. We should probably wake the Peanut."

"Yes, we would not want her to be upset with us tomorrow." Ziva replied.

Tony walked over to the chair and gently ran his hand through Natalie's long brown hair. "Sweetheart, it's almost New Years Day."

Natalie slowly opened her eyes and sat up in the chair. Tony picked up the little girl and stood up.

"Come on little girl we have to find Frank before the clock strikes 12!" Tony said to her and Natalie immediately perked up.

"Frank, who is Frank?" Ziva questioned.

"Ol' Blue Eyes!!" Natalie said excitedly.

Ziva could not help but laugh, Natalie was indeed Tony DiNozzo's daughter.

"Okay, so why do we need Frank Sinatra?" Ziva asked.

"Because 'Come Fly With Me' is the official first song of the New Year in the DiNozzo household." Tony responded.

"Every year we listen to it because it's Daddy and my favorite song and Daddy says that we have to start off the New Year with something that makes us happy." Natalie said as Tony put her on the ground to grab the CD.

"Well, that sounds like a good idea to me." Ziva said, "and your Daddy here has graciously lent me his Frank Sinatra CD's over the years so I am quite fond of him myself, it sounds like a great song to start off the New Year."

"Alright ladies it's almost the New Year. The CD is ready to play, lets get ourselves comfy." Tony said as he grabbed Natalie and started tickling her as he made his way to the sofa. Natalie burst out in laughter as she squirmed her way back to Ziva, still laughing the whole time.

Ziva smiled, this was the perfect way to spend New Years.

"Alright Peanut, you got your noisemakers?" Tony said to Natalie.

"Yes!!" Natalie exclaimed excitedly as she picked up her whistles and poppers and bells from the table, all while jumping up and down in front of Tony and Ziva.

"Daddy, Ziva, you have to stand up when the ball drops!" Natalie said, stomping her feet in front of them so they would get her point.

"We're coming Peanut." Tony said as he smiled at Ziva and offered her his hand.

Ziva smiled back and placed her hand in his, they stood up together and Tony held Ziva's hand tightly at his side.

Ziva blushed slightly, she couldn't remember the last time when such a simple, yet romantic, gesture had made her blush like that.

Natalie jumped up and down in front of them as the countdown started.

Tony smiled as he looked at his daughter who was getting ready to go nuts with her noisemakers and then at Ziva who also wasn't watching the tv, but grinning at Natalie's excitement.

"5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1! Happy New Year!" They all yelled in unison.

Natalie immediately began to throw her confetti about the room and blow her noisemakers. Tony took that chance to turn to Ziva, look her in the eye and say, "Happy New Year Ziva." He then leaned in to kiss her softly on the lips.

Ziva smiled and replied, "Happy New Year Tony."

They both stood there for a minute looking into each others eyes, they had both gotten what they had wanted most for New Years.

Natalie quickly grew bored with her noisemakers and turned to her Dad and Ziva.

"Come here Peaunut, give your Daddy a New Years hug." Tony said as he scooped up his little girl and held her tight. "Happy New Year pretty girl, I love you."

"Happy New Year Daddy, I love you too." Natalie replied.

After a minute, Tony then passed Natalie onto Ziva, and went to go put the CD on.

"Happy New Year my dear. I love you so much." Ziva said to Natalie as she hugged the little girl tightly.

"Happy New Year Ziva. I love you too." Natalie replied as she hugged Ziva closer.

Ziva set Natalie down and they both walked the few feet over to where Tony was standing.

"Are we ready for the first song of the New Year?" Tony asked.

"Yes yes yes!!!" Natalie said jumping up and down.

Ziva laughed, "Tony you better play that song now!"

Tony hit the play button and Frank Sinatra started playing out of the speakers.

"Come fly with me lets fly lets fly away

if you could use some exotic booze

well there's a bar in far Bombay

come on fly with me lets fly lets fly away…"

Tony twirled his two favorite girls around with his arms as they laughed as he tried to be suave. The three danced through "Come Fly With Me" and a few more Sinatra songs until Natalie started yawning.

"Okay, we need to get to bed. You, Peanut, need to get to sleep."

Natalie didn't even argue with him, she simply held up her arms so that Tony could pick her up.

They made there way into her room where she slowly got into her pajamas and brushed her teeth before settling in her bed. Tony then tucked her snuggly into the bed, kissed her forehead and said the same words he told her every night, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be."

And Natalie replied as she did every night, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my Daddy you'll be."

Tony kissed her again on the forehead, "Goodnight sweetheart, I love you to the moon and back."

"Goodnight Daddy, I love you too." Natalie said as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Ziva, who had been standing in the doorway the whole time, had tears in her eyes.

Tony stood up, turned off the light and walked into the hall to meet Ziva, who to his surprise, was leaning against the wall with tears streaming down her face.

Tony brushed her hair away from her eyes, "Z, are you alright?"

"I am fine. I just…I forgot what it was like to have someone love you unconditionally like that. You are a wonderful father Tony. Natalie is a very lucky girl to have a Father like you." Ziva said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

Tony knew Ziva was thinking about her bad relationship with her own Father, he also knew she would tell him more when she was ready so he did not press her for information, he simply took her in his arms and held her tight.

A/N: My Dad and I do the whole "I'll love you forever…" lines every night before I go to bed. Seriously, I'm 20 years old and it never gets old. Sorry if you think that's cheesy but I think it defines the special relationship my Dad and I have and I think it does the same for Tony and Natalie.

P.S. I just got a twitter so you all should follow me! I am totally not into social networking sites and I will never have a facebook or myspace so this is a big step for me! haha If you follow me I will follow you back! /cerierose


	4. Fearless

A/N: Hi everyone, I apologize for not posting earlier. My Dad's fiancée got really sick and we ended up having to detour to New Zealand so she could get to the hospital., don't worry she is fine now. Just an extremely nasty bit of food poisoning. So I only got this chapter and a little bit of another written. I promise I will finish it and post it before I go to Haiti. I love you all for reading this, please please please leave me more comments!

"Fearless"

"'Cause I don't know how it gets better than this, you take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless." ~Taylor Swift

Chapter 4

Tony held Ziva in the doorway of Natalie's room until she slowly pulled away. Tony then took her hand and led her back to the living room. The two sat down on the sofa, Tony pulling Ziva closer to him so that they were snuggled in together.

Ziva looked up at Tony, his beautiful green eyes were staring back at her.

"Can I ask you a question?" Ziva ventured.

"Anything." Tony responded.

"When did you first realize that you loved me?" she asked.

"Well, I won't say it was love at first sight, because it wasn't. But I was very attracted to you. I'm not sure exactly when it happened because I tried to deny it for so long, but I think I really admitted it to myself after Jenny died. I saw Gibbs going through that and I realized that no matter what either of them said, they had really loved each other. Then I thought about you and what would happen if we had ended up like Jenny and Gibbs and that was when it dawned on me that I didn't love you as just a partner or a friend. I was in love with you. And then we all got transferred and I thought I would never see you again so I tried to make myself forget. Then I was so thrilled that we were all getting transferred back to Gibbs' team that when I found out you were seeing someone I was crushed. I really didn't think we would ever be together at that point. So, that is why when you got back the last time, I let myself believe that I could handle just being your friend but in truth I couldn't and then it all just sort of came out tonight, I just couldn't hold it in any longer."

Ziva took a deep breath, "I am sorry Tony, I know I have apologized before but I really am sorry that I did not trust you. I should have, but I had tried for so long to deny my feelings for you that it seemed like the best way to go. I do love you, I have for a very long time."

Tony smiled and bent down to kiss Ziva. "I like hearing you say that."

"Apologizing?" Ziva asked, confused.

Tony laughed, "No, telling me you love me!"

"Oh!" Ziva said, laughing as well, "well I am glad because I plan on telling you at least once a day." She smiled at Tony.

Tony pulled her closer, he had not been this happy in a long time.

The two sat on the sofa for a while longer, alternating between talking and sharing short but passionate kisses.

Tony thought he could sure get used to this.

Finally Ziva looked at the clock.

"It's two o'clock I should get going." Ziva said as she got up from the sofa.

Tony quickly grabbed her hand in protest. "Come on Ziva, it's too late, the roads are going to be slick, you should just stay here." Tony said, pleading with his eyes.

"Tony, I have to go, what would we tell Natalie in the morning?" Ziva asked.

Tony stood up, Ziva's hand still in his own. "That the roads were icy and you couldn't go home. " Tony countered, a cheeky grin on his face.

"And what if she wakes up early and finds us both in your bed?" Ziva retaliated.

"We tell her the truth. She's more mature than your average 8 year old." Tony said.

"Yes but Tony I want to set a good example for her."

"Z, Natalie and I have had the birds and the bees talk, that was when I knew I had to put a pass code on HBO and Showtime," Tony shuddered, "that conversation made me want to cry. I kept imagining her in high school with guys like me. Those were some scary dreams…" Tony finally came out of his stupor and back to his original thought. "Plus she understands that when you love someone you want to be with them all the time. It won't be a bad example for her, it will be a good one because I don't mean to freak you out, but you are the only girl I plan on bringing home, ever again. And we don't have to "sleep together" sleep together, because I want to do this right. But I would just like to hold you." Tony said looking down at her with nothing but sincerity in his eyes, "Plus Ziva the roads really are slick. I don't want to worry about you."

Ziva smiled, she liked that Tony worried about her. "Okay." She said. "But we are explaining the change in our relationship to Natalie tomorrow, I want her to be okay with this."

Tony laughed, "Uh Z, I think she is going to be more than okay with this. She worships the ground you walk on."

Ziva smiled, Tony was right, she and Natalie got along famously.

"Well, we should be getting to bed." Tony took her hand and led her down the hallway. "I will grab you some pajamas. There should be a new toothbrush in my cabinet if you want to use that."

"You planned on me spending the night Tony?" Ziva said, taunting him.

"No. I just buy the two packs of toothbrushes so I don't have to buy them as often ZIVA." Tony said as he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Very mature Agent DiNozzo." Ziva said, laughing.

Ziva went into the bathroom, found the toothbrush and brushed her teeth. When she came back out Tony was in his pajamas – an Ohio State shirt and pajama pants of course.

"I left your pajamas on the bed." Tony said as he walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth and Ziva went to the bedroom to change.

Ziva laughed when she saw the pajamas he had laid out for her. Of course she would get to wear Ohio State clothing as well, why should she have expected any different? Ziva put on the too big shirt and pants. She could smell Tony on them; she would have to figure out a way to get Tony to give her a pair. She walked over to his dresser; there were pictures on top of it and along the walls. Most of the pictures were of Natalie alone and there were also lots of Tony and Natalie together. There was a picture of Tony and who Ziva knew to be Kate Todd, Tony's former partner. There was a picture of the whole NCIS team, one of Tony and Gibbs, one of Tony, McGee, and Abby. Then at the end of the line there was a picture of her at Tony that had been taken at one of the NCIS Christmas party's years before and she smiled. Her eyes moved further down the line and then there it was, a candid of them taken before the Jeanne Benoit or Michael Rivkin debacles, they were falling over each other laughing. Ziva remembered Abby taking this picture on a night when they had all gone out together, if only they had been able to face their feelings back then, she thought. Life might have been a little easier.

Tony walked back into the room, "Alright, I am exhausted! Lets hit the sack." Tony said dramatically. He pulled back the covers and climbed into bed. He looked up when he noticed Ziva was not getting into bed with him.

"Is there a problem my ninja? Or in Mossad do they train you to sleep standing up?" Tony joked.

Ziva glared at him, "No they do not Tony. I just wanted to see which side of the bed you liked to sleep on so I did not take it."

"Ziva, I am a 38 year old single Dad who hasn't had a girl sleep in his bed for 8 years, the middle is my spot. But I am perfectly willing to give that up for you." He said patting the bed for her to come lay down.

Ziva walked over and pulled back the covers, she turned on her side to face him and propped her head up with her hand. She looked Tony in the eyes.

"That cannot be true. I know for a fact you have slept with women, you used to brag about it all the time." Ziva said in a questioning tone.

"Well, that is correct, but I have never brought a woman back to "sleep" at my house. I do want to set somewhat of a good example for Natalie. And Ziva, I know this might come as a shock to you, but I haven't slept with anyone in almost two years."

Ziva looked at Tony, he was definitely telling the truth. She could see it in his eyes. "Why not?" She asked.

"Because I didn't want another girl. I wanted you." He said, putting his hand up to stroke her cheek.

Ziva reached up to grab his hand that was on her cheek with her own hand.

"I am glad we finally got this right." She said.

"Me too." Tony replied. With that he leaned over and placed a soft but slow kiss on her lips. "Lailah tov, Ziva."

"Buona notte, Tony." Ziva replied as she snuggled into his warm body and let sleep claim her.

A/N: Fun fact, I had to have a birds and bees talk with my Dad when I was 8 because I ended up flipping the channel to HBO and there was a rather explicit sex scene on. He ended up walking into the room and quickly changed the channel, but of course being the curious 8 year old that I was, I had to ask what they were doing. My Dad looked like he was about to cry through the whole conversation. It's quite funny in retrospect, though not so much at the time.

Also, how old is Tony? I am going with 38. I know Michael Weatherly is 41 but lets face it, actors rarely ever play anyone their actual age anymore.


	5. Wouldn't It Be Nice

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! Keep them coming please, they really energize me!! I am in Haiti right now; it took us forever to get here. It's just so sad here I cannot even explain. Please keep reviewing while I am gone and maybe Chapter 6 will come on my plane ride back =]

Oh and I am glad you all seem to like that this is a little cheesy…I write political pieces that can sometimes be extremely depressing, for about every class I have, so it is nice to be a on the extra happy side sometimes!

"Wouldn't It Be Nice"

"Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up/in the morning when the day is new/and after having spent the night together/hold each other close the whole night through/happy times together we've been spending/I wish that every kiss was never ending/wouldn't it be nice."~The Beach Boys

Chapter 5

Ziva woke up early the next morning to the feeling that someone was watching her. She opened her eyes and saw that Tony was still sound asleep with his arms around her, she smiled and then turned around. Sure enough, a pair of bright green eyes were peering over the bed at her. Ziva propped herself up on her arm.

"Well good morning Miss Natalie."

Natalie sleepily rubbed her eyes. "Hi. Did you spend the night?"

Ziva knew that was going to be the first question out of the little girl's mouth. No way of getting around it. "Yes I did sleepyhead." She replied.

"That's good. Sometimes I think Daddy is lonely but not when you are around." Natalie said, making Ziva smile.

Tony, roused by the conversation, finally woke up.

"Morning Peanut, how's my girl today?"

Ziva helped Natalie climb up on the bed so she could snuggle into Tony's open arms.

"I'm good Daddy." Natalie said as she snuggled up into Tony's side. "Are you and Ziva going to get married?" She asked.

Tony somewhat taken off guard, looked nervously at Ziva. Although he was definitely sure that was what he wanted eventually, he knew it was a little early to be talking about that just yet. Fortunately he saw Ziva laugh and knew it was okay.

"Well, Natalie, we haven't talked about that yet but I hope it is something that is in our future. Why would you think we were getting married sweetie?"

"Well," Natalie started, "you said that I'm not allowed to have Peter sleep over but I can have Michelle sleep over because girls aren't supposed to have guys sleep over until they are getting married. And you are a guy and Ziva is a girl."

Tony laughed. At least the kid listened to what he had to say. "Well, Peanut you are certainly right about that. But a guy can also have a girl sleep over when they are in love. But they have to be over 30. "

Ziva could not contain her laughter anymore, watching Tony and Natalie interact was too cute.

"Okay. Does that mean you love Ziva?" Natalie questioned.

"Yep Peanut, I do love Ziva." Tony said as he grabbed Ziva's hand.

"Does that mean Ziva is going to be spending the night all the time? Because if she is then I want her to spend the night in my room sometimes." Natalie said, meaning business.

Tony laughed. "Okay, we will see what we can do about that." He said with a wink in Ziva's direction. "But, I think if we want Ziva to stay over again I am probably going to have to take her on a real date."

"Daddy take her on a date then!" Natalie said excitedly.

"You and I think alike, Peanut. What if I took her to dinner tonight?" Tony said, his voice answering Natalie's question but his eyes looking at Ziva for the answer.

"Yeah!" Natalie said excitedly.

"And what would do you think about that?" Tony asked, his eyes never moving from Ziva.

"I think that I would love to come on a date with you tonight." Ziva smiled, looking at Tony.

"Yay!" Natalie squealed, jumping up on the bed.

"Alright, now why don't you go call your Aunt Abby and see if you can hang at her house tonight while Daddy and Ziva are on a date.

"Okay!" Natalie squealed as she leaped off the bed and bolted for the phone in the living room.

Ziva and Tony both laughed at the little girl's excitement.

Tony turned to look at Ziva. "See, I told you she would have no problems with the change in situation. We just have to be honest with her. She's only eight but she picks up on a lot more than you think."

"I see that." Ziva said, scooting closer to Tony. "So, what are we going to do on this date tonight?"

"Well," Tony thought out loud, "of course dinner. And after that maybe I'll surprise you." He said flashing her one of his famous DiNozzo grins.

"Which is code for you have absolutely no idea what you want to do." Ziva said, smirking at him.

Tony laughed, "True. But that doesn't mean I won't come up with something. You just have to give me time antsy pants." He teased.

Tony leaned in to kiss Ziva, he could definitely get used to this. Just as their lips met Natalie burst back into the room at full speed.

"Abby said yes!!" She squealed, running and jumping around the room. "She said that I could just spend the night over there if that was okay with you? Is it okay? Please Daddy, please?" Natalie pleaded, flashing her big green eyes at Tony in her best puppy dog face.

Tony laughed, "of course you can Peanut. Now what did you tell your Aunt Abby?"

"That you and Ziva had to go on a date or else she couldn't spend the night again. Duh!" Natalie said.

Tony shook his head as he tried to contain his laughter, Ziva on the other hand just started laughing.

"Oh Peanut, this is exactly why you are Gibbs' favorite. You just can't lie." Tony said, still laughing.

"That's because lying is bad!" Natalie said, matter-of-factly.

Ziva smiled. "You are a smart girl, miss Natalie."

"Alright, alright, now why don't you go get your stuff together for your night at Aunt Abby's?" Tony ventured.

"Okay!" Natalie said quickly and bolted out of the room.

"Boy does she have energy when she wakes up!" Ziva said.

"Yeah she's pretty non-stop from sun up to sun down. You sure you want to wake up to that little fireball every morning?" Tony asked, taking Ziva's hand. "Because I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to jump into something, I mean I do come with baggage, even if that baggage is sugar coated as the cutest little girl ever."

"Tony, I want that. I want to wake up with you every morning but I also want to be with Natalie every day. You guys are the family that I never had. I like waking up to Natalie peering over the bed because it makes me feel happy inside, like I matter to someone." Ziva said, watery eyed, to Tony.

"Ziva," Tony said leaning in to her, "you will always, and you have always, mattered to me. No matter what happens, I hope you always remember that."

Ziva nodded as Tony kissed her lightly on the lips. "I love you Ziva David."

"I love you, too, Anthony DiNozzo." Ziva smiled and kissed him back.

"Well, I think we should get out of bed and get ready for our day. You have to get ready for your date with that studly boyfriend of yours." Tony said.

"Yes, lets hope he can fit his ego into his car so he can actually pick me up tonight." Ziva said, smirking at Tony.

"Funny, Probette." Tony remarked back. "Well, we should get ready before Natalie speeds back in here, and plus, you need time to get ready for our date."

"Yes. I want to look good for my studly boyfriend." Ziva said.

Tony laughed and pulled her into his arms. He could not wait for tonight.

A/N: This was more of a filler chapter, the first part of Chapter 6 is written but it will probably not be posted until I get back from Haiti. And again PLEASE check out UNICEF's website to donate to the people of Haiti.

Who is excited about "Jetlag" on Tuesday?!?! I might have to allow myself an hour of internet time that night (that is if my wireless card will even work in Haiti. Keeping my fingers crossed.) I am praying for at least a little Tiva realization….they are so perfect for each other! Too bad they are so darn stubborn!


	6. Today Was A Fairytale

A/N: So "Jet Lag" definitely was not what I thought it was going to be….it was better! Seriously that episode left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside! I am glad they just kind of alluded to the hotel room scene because it left more to the imagination…and they alluded to things that cannot be show on television! Haha. I really hope this starts something between Tony and Ziva. They are PERFECT for each other!!

So Haiti was absolutely devastating, I honestly could not even begin to fathom having to survive there, helping the people was just so incredibly sad, all of the little children, it just broke my heart. I cannot accurately describe my experience in such a short paragraph. But, there was this little dog that kept following me around, of course I got extremely attached to her. So I snuck her on our plane and my Dad did not find out until about an hour into the flight (that is the very very short version of the story) and I named her Ziva =] I figured she had to be one tough little pooch to survive so I thought the name fit perfectly.

Also writing this story got me through the week, thank you all so much for reading it. You have no idea how truly grateful I am.

"Today Was A Fairytale"

"Today was a fairytale/I wore a dress/you wore a dark grey t-shit/you told me I was pretty when I looked like a mess/today was a fairytale/times slows down whenever you're around/but can you feel this magic in the air?/It must have been the way you kissed me/I fell in love when I saw you standing there/it must have been the way/today was a fairytale." ~Taylor Swift

Chapter 6

Tony fiddled with his shirt collar nervously. He had spent all day preparing for his date with Ziva and he needed everything to go smoothly, this night had to go perfectly because that's what Ziva deserved. Tony turned around to Natalie who was sitting on the bed. "Okay so which tie, Peanut?" He asked Natalie as he picked up two that were laying on his dresser.

"Right." Natalie said.

"You sure about that Natalie? I gotta look good." Tony said holding the tie up to his shirt and studying it closely.

"Daddy." Natalie said, giving him a stern look.

"Man, you're getting better at that 'I mean business' stare than Gibbs." Tony said.

Natalie giggled. "Can I tie it Daddy?" She asked.

"Of course Peanut, you know you are my official tie tier." Tony said, stepping closer to the bed and putting the tie around his neck.

Natalie stood up on the bed and took the ends of the tie in her hands and measured them precisely, the concentration on her face evident. Tony smiled, Natalie had wanted to learn how to tie a tie when she was 6 and she loved doing it for some reason. But Tony didn't mind, it was an extra couple minutes with his darling little girl and he loved every second of it.

Natalie finished tying his tie and said, "Done!"

"Lets see here." Tony said, turning around to look in the mirror. "Perfect as always little girl." He turned his head to give Natalie a kiss on the check and she plopped back on the bed.

"Alright, I think we are ready. Do you have your night bag packed? When is Aunt Abby picking you up?" Tony asked Natalie.

"20:00 Daddy, I told you that already. I packed this morning." Natalie said, somewhat exasperated.

"Right." Tony said nervously adjusting his suit jacket.

"Daddy why are you so nervous?" Natalie asked.

Tony sighed, "Because I want everything to be perfect for Ziva."

"But Daddy, Ziva already loves you. I bet she won't care if it isn't perfect. Like when I don't get all of my math problems right. You still love me."

Tony smiled. "Thanks Peanut. You're right I will love you forever no matter what, but I want Ziva to have a good night because she has had a rough year."

"Ohh, okay. I understand." Natalie said.

Tony did not tell her much about Ziva's time in Somalia but she did know that Ziva had been held prisoner by very bad men and that her Dad and Gibbs and McGee had saved her.

There was a ring at the door. Natalie jumped up. "I'll get it, I'll get it!!" She said excitedly.

She ran to the door, "Who is it?" She asked before opening.

"Your favorite Aunt in the history of the world." Abby answered.

Natalie giggle and opened the door to Abby, she jumped up into the forensic scientists open arms and gave her a big hug. "Hi Abby!!" She said excitedly.

"Hey munchkin! Good job remembering to ask who was at the door." Abby said hugging the little girl tightly. She then set Natalie down and saw Tony standing a few feet in front of her.

"Tony!! Oh my gosh I am so excited! I can't believe you and Ziva finally got it past your thick skulls that you are meant to be together!" Abby said. She was as excited as Natalie at the news of Tony and Ziva's relationship change.

"Thanks Abs." Tony said as he gave her a hug.

"Okay Munchkin, we should get going. We're gonna make Uncle Timmy pick us up some food!" Abby said to Natalie.

"Yay!! Natalie squealed as she ran to grab her bag from her room.

Tony laughed, "Good luck. She had a bit too much sugar today."

"Which is why we get along so famously!" Abby responded.

Tony smiled, she was probably right about that. Natalie ran back into the room with her bag.

"Lets go!" She said.

"Alrighty lets get a move on!" Abby said.

"Aren't we forgetting something?" Tony asked.

Natalie smiled, dropped her bag and jumped up into Tony's arms. "I love you Daddy. I hope your date goes perfect."

"I love you too Peanut." Tony said, hugging his daughter tightly. He finally set her down and pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her.

Natalie smiled, she knew what the paper was, it was always the same thing, a little goodnight note for her and then the words "I love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." Natalie hugged her Dad one more time and then she and Abby were ready to leave.

"Don't worry Tony, you're past the hard part. Now you just have to make it work and I know you can do that." Abby said, giving him a kiss on the cheek and walking out the door.

Tony went back into the house, shut the door and sat down on the sofa. He decided to make a phone call just to make sure everything was set. He talked to his friend who had helped him secure the assets needed for the date and made sure everything was in order, he set down the phone, satisfied that everything was good to go. He looked at his watch. 20:15, he had to pick Ziva up at 20:30, which meant he needed to leave.

Fifteen minutes later and Tony was standing outside Ziva's doorway. He nervously knocked on the door, a second later Ziva opened it and he was stunned by what he saw. Ziva was wearing a deep purple one shoulder dress with a gold accent pin in the shoulder, it went down to just above her knees and had tiered ruffles up to the waist. Her hair was tied in a low loose bun at the back of her head so that her perfectly toned shoulders and collar bone were visible, she looked absolutely stunning.

Ziva took his silence to mean bad, "Is this not right? When you said dress up I figured you would mean a nice dress." She said turning around.

Tony grabbed her lightly by the arm and leaned in. "Ziva, you look absolutely beautiful. I couldn't speak because I didn't think it was possible for you too look even more beautiful than usual, but you do." He said as he placed a light kiss on Ziva's lips.

Ziva smiled brightly, "Oh, I understand. You look very good too. So, what do you have planned for me tonight?" She asked.

"Well, that Miss David is for me to know and you to find out." Tony said with a huge grin on his face.

"Well, I can deal with that. As long as this surprise involves dinner, I am so hungry I could eat a horse!"

"Hey you got an idiom right! And I assure you, if definitely involves dinner." He said as he placed his hand on the small of her back and led her out the door. Wanting to be the perfect gentleman he took her to his car, opened the door for her, and helped her get in.

"Well you certainly are Prince Charming tonight." Ziva said once he got into the car.

"I prefer to think of myself as a Carey Grant or Humphrey Bogart type man, but I am willing to be Prince Charming if it means I get to have you as my Princess." Tony said to her as he took her hand in his.

The two made casual conversation all the way to their destination. When Tony pulled into the parking lot, Ziva was a little confused.

"Why are we at the Smithsonian?" Ziva said looking at the deserted museum.

"I told you, you need special classification to know that information. You'll just have to figure it out." Tony said helping her out of the car.

Ziva looked at the building, what could Tony possibly be planning that involved the Air and Space museum? But she followed him into the building, a guard let them in the door and she walked blindly as Tony led her down hallways. They finally got to a door and Tony stopped to open it, Ziva walked in and gasped. She had walked into the Einstein Planetarium. There were no lights in the room except for the stars shining on the ceiling and the flames from the candles light up at the table set for two in the middle of the planetarium. She put her hands over her mouth in shock; she could not believe Tony had done this.

"Oh my gosh. Tony, you did this all for me?" Ziva said, looking at Tony with tears in her eyes.

"Yes, because you are worth it Ziva." Tony said as he stepped closer to her, he noticed that there were tears in her eyes. "Hey hey why are you crying?" He asked, pulling her into an embrace.

"These are happy tears. I can assure you that." Ziva said burring her face in Tony's neck.

Tony stroked her hair for a minute until she calmed down and looked up at him, "Thank you, Tony. "

He smiled at her, "Anything for you sweet cheeks. How about we go eat?"

Ziva laughed, "I would love that."

With that Tony took her hand and led her to the middle of the planetarium, there was a small table set for two, Ziva could smell dinner, macadamia encrusted tilapia with a lemon butter sauce and asparagus. For the wine there was a bottle of Ziva's favorite Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc, Ziva could not believe it. She had never had anyone do something so romantic for her before. Tony, being a true gentleman, pulled her chair out for her and they both sat down.

"How did you get us in here?" Ziva ventured.

"I made a few phone calls, I didn't think just ordinary dinner and dancing would do when my date was so extraordinary." Tony said, smiling at her.

This made Ziva blush, "My you are quite the charmer tonight. "

"I am trying." Tony said giving her one of his signature grins. "So, do you like the food?"

"It is delicious Tony, you know exactly what I like." Ziva said, returning the devilish grin.

"Whoa there Miss David, we're just on dinner." Tony said smiling back at her.

The two ate their dinner while making small talk, ever so often pausing to get lost in each other's eyes. Ziva loved Tony's sea green eyes, she felt like she could see right into his soul. They were so warm and so filled with obvious adoration for her she felt silly for being so stubborn as to not have noticed it before. In return Tony loved Ziva's dark brown eyes, he loved how mysterious they made her look but also how vulnerable, her wide eyes showed more emotions then she would have liked to let out.

The two finished dinner and Tony got out of his seat.

"What are you doing?" Ziva questioned.

"Setting up the second part of our date."

Ziva turned around in her chair, Tony was setting out a blanket in the space next to the table, he pulled chocolate covered strawberries out of a cooler beside the blanket and placed the tray of them on the blanket. He then went back to the table, took Ziva's hand in his own and one of the candles in his other and led her to the blanket. Ziva sat down on the blanket, carefully because of her dress, and Tony sat down next to her. He picked up a strawberry and held it up to her mouth.

"Really, Tony?" Ziva asked.

Tony laughed, "Yeah I thought that was too much, I just wanted to try."

As they both laughed Ziva did something that surprised him, she pulled his hand over to her mouth and took a bite of the strawberry.

Tony grinned, "Well Miss David, you just continue to surprise me."

The two ate the rest of the strawberries and talked.

"How did you come up with this?" Ziva finally asked.

"Well, when we were in Israel I realized that you could see the stars so much better there and I thought you might miss that. So I called a friend and he helped me set this up." Tony answered.

"Tony, that was so thoughtful of you." Ziva said. Tony just kept surprising her; she really had not given him enough credit.

"I have to apologize Tony." Ziva stated.

Tony looked confused. "What for?" he asked.

"For underestimating you so many times in the past. I really did not give you enough credit. You are a wonderful person Tony." Ziva said, stroking Tony's cheek with her hand.

Tony reached up and clasped her hand with his own. "Ziva, you never have to apologize for that. We were different people then, it's okay. We have seen each other at our best and at our very worst and we still want to be with each other. I don't know about you but I think that's a pretty big deal."

Ziva smiled, everything Tony said just made her fall more and more in love with him. She reached up with her free hand to his face and pulled him in closer.

"I love you, Tony DiNozzo." She said.

"I love you Ziva David." Tony said back to her as he began to kiss her, softly at first but the kiss grew more passionate until they both pulled apart, breathless.

"I feel like a teenager making out in the movie theatre." Tony reminisced as he placed his forehead against Ziva's.

"Maybe we should head back to your place." Ziva said seductively.

Tony smiled, "As you wish." He said, helping Ziva up as they made their way out the door.

QUESTION: If I posted the smutty version of what happened after their dinner in another story…would anyone read it? Please let me know because I wrote a smutty ending and since my story is rated like K+ I can't post it here. So….just let me know! I don't usually write that kind of stuff but I got carried away!

A/N: I just had to title this chapter after Taylor Swift's new song. I love her to death, she's basically the sweetest person ever!

This story is basically just things from my life applied to NCIS, the tie thing, the goodnight note, I even had a date like that. =]

Also, I am DYING to talk TIVA with someone, if anyone wants to discuss please PM me or add me on AIM lovealwayscerie  
Seriously though, I need to discuss some Tiva and, no offense to anyone who likes it, but I kind of find the CBS forum a little irritating.


	7. The Heart of Life

Chapter 7

A/N: This is kind of a filler chapter as I have been very busy with school. First week back and I already have 3 papers! Nuts! Anyway, I hope you enjoy. I will be posting the smutty ending to Chapter 6 sometime tomorrow, it is called "Ready To Love Again" so be sure to check back and as always PLEASE leave me comments!! Thanks!

"The Heart of Life"

"Pain throws your heart to the ground/love turns the whole thing around/no it won't all go the way it should/but I know the heart of life is good."~John Mayer

Ziva loved waking up in Tony's arms. She loved how his hair was tousled in the morning, how he still smelt musky and sexy even after his cologne wore off, but mostly she loved how safe and wanted she felt wrapped up in his arms. Safe was a new feeling for her, and she liked it a lot. She looked around the room; Abby was going to take Natalie to school today so she and Tony still had some time to themselves before heading out for work. She snuggled closer to him and he reflexively pulled her closer. Ziva kissed him lightly and a smiled slowly appeared on his face. He opened his eyes and saw the love of his life staring back at him.

"Good morning beautiful." He said as he opened his eyes.

Ziva smiled, "Good morning handsome," She replied back.

"Did you sleep okay?" Tony asked as he propped himself up on one arm and gently rubbed the small of her back with the other.

"Better than I have in a long time." Ziva said, kissing his chest.

"Me too. I'm glad." Tony said, smiling brightly at her. "Are you hungry? I mean we had a full dinner last night but this beautiful ex-assassin gave me quite the workout last night."

Ziva laughed. "I am starving. I could make us breakfast if you would like?"

"How about we make it together?" Tony said seductively as he pulled her closer to him and kissed her lips.

"That sounds even better." Ziva said, with her face just millimeters from Tony's.

Tony grinned; he loved waking up to Ziva. They both got out of bed and Tony stared at Ziva as she slipped his button down oxford shirt over her shoulders. He couldn't help but think about how beautiful she was even when she had just woken up. Tony slipped on his boxers and walked around to her side of the bed. "Breakfast or shower first?" He asked, running his fingers through her tousled hair.

"Shower." Ziva said as she breathlessly kissed Tony.

Tony in turn wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly to him.

Ziva pulled back reluctantly, "We cannot be late to work."

"Maybe I should use Natalie's bathroom, I think that would be easier for both of us." Tony laughed.

"I think you are right, I really do not want to have to explain this to Gibbs today." Ziva said, reluctantly.

"I will see you soon, beautiful." Tony said to Ziva as he grabbed his things from the bathroom and made his way over to Natalie's. Ziva leaned up against the wall and sighed, she could definitely get used to this.

After Ziva had finished getting ready she made her way into the kitchen. There she saw Tony, already dressed, getting breakfast started. She walked up behind him and put her arms around him. "You started without me." She said, feigning disappointment.

"I am only getting the supplies out, we don't want to be late, do we?" Tony replied, turning around too look at Ziva.

"I am only kidding." Ziva said, smiling. "So what is on the menu this morning?" She asked.

"Well, I was thinking your classic breakfast, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast. I would love to make pancakes but Natalie and I used it up last week and I haven't had a chance to buy more." Tony stated.

"Sounds great to me." Ziva said, "let us get started."

The two cooked their breakfast together and ate quickly so as not to be late to work.

"Maybe I should leave, and you wait five minutes and then leave?" Ziva asked as they were walking out the door.

Tony paused, "That's probably a good idea. We don't want to raise suspicion. Plus even if you leave five minutes before me you'll probably get there 20 before me because you drive like it's NASCAR."

Ziva made a face at him but decided to ignore the comment about her driving. "Abby swore to me she would say nothing to even McGee so we will see how that worked out." Ziva said.

"If the McGnome knows that will not be good. But I'm sure at least if Abby told him she made him swear not to say anything and you know he won't because she has him wrapped around her tattooed finger." Tony smiled, "Okay then, I will see you at work sweet cheeks." He said as he bent down to kiss her goodbye.

"Do not be late my little hairy butt." Ziva said, returning the kiss and smiling.

Tony laughed as he watched Ziva walk out the door.

It was a usual day at work; they managed to banter back and forth, albeit nicer banter than normal, and McGee did not seem to know a thing.

Ziva had not seen the goth forensic scientist all day and since Tony and McGee were out interviewing potential witnesses and Gibbs had been up in MTAC, Ziva had finished her required paperwork and needed something to do, therefore she came up with the conclusion that she would go say a quick hello to Abby. Ziva made her way down to Abby's lab, as usual the door was open and she walked right in. "Abby?" Ziva called, looking around for her friend.

"Ziva!" Abby squealed as she ran up to her and gave her a huge hug.

Ziva laughed at her friend's excitement.

"Ohh my gosh Ziva. I cannot believe it! I am so so so happy for you guys! This is the best! You have to give me details?!?" Abby said excitedly.

"Of course I will Abby, but not here. You did not say anything to McGee did you?" Ziva asked.

"Nope, Timmy is clueless!" Abby said proudly, "although it was pretty difficult to keep it from him."

"Well thank you Abby, we just need to figure this out a little bit before we tell everyone else." Ziva said.

"I completely understand. My lips are sealed!" Abby said.

"Thank you." Ziva replied, giving her friend a warm smile.

Abby's heart melted, she had not seen her friend smile so genuinely in a long time. She hugged Ziva again, "I am so happy for you two. You're good for each other."

Ziva smiled, "Thank you Abby, I believe we are too."

Just then Ziva's phone rang, Gibbs of course. She headed back up to the bullpen and got back to work. The day passed by quickly after that. At seventeen hundred Ziva found herself without anything to do.

"Ziver, you done with your paperwork?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes, it is all turned in as well, Gibbs." Ziva replied.

"Good." Gibbs said, "Why don't you get home then, these two will be out once they get their paperwork done." He said pointing to Tony and McGee

"Thank you Gibbs." Ziva said as she watched him walk up to MTAC. Ziva looked over at Tony and walked up to his desk. McGee seemed engrossed in something on his iphone so Ziva felt comfortable talking to Tony about their plans for later than night.

"Looks like I'm gonna be a while, Z." Tony said.

"That is okay. How about I pick up Natalie and we get dinner ready?" Ziva replied.

"Really?" Tony asked, "That would be great. She would love that Ziva."

"Of course. We can have some girl time." Ziva said, smiling.

"Thanks Z, I'll call you when I'm about to head home."

"Sounds like a plan." Ziva said, it took everything she had not to bend down and kiss him right there. She gathered her things and headed out the door.

Ziva drove to Natalie's school. Natalie was involved in an after school music and theatre program and when Tony got off later than 5:30, which he normally did, she went home with a friend until Tony got off work. Ziva walked into the school and made her way to the theatre to look for Natalie. Ziva walked into the auditorium and immediately spotted Natalie to the left of the stage sitting in a circle with the other kids in what looked to be a game of some sort. Ziva sat down with a couple other parents in the seats; she had gotten there a little before the program ended so she just was going to wait until it was over. A couple minutes later the instructor dismissed the kids and they all got up, immediately Natalie spotted Ziva and her face lit up as she waved excitedly at her. Ziva smiled and waved back at the little girl and got up to meet her in an aisle. Natalie quickly gathered her things and ran towards Ziva.

"Hi!" She said happily as she dropped her stuff and jumped into Ziva's arms.

Ziva held on to the little girl tightly, "Hello my dear."

"Where's Daddy?" Natalie asked as Ziva put her down.

"Well he had to stay and finish paperwork so I thought that you and I could have a little girl time, does that sound okay to you?" Ziva asked.

"Yes!!" Natalie squealed excitedly.

At that point the instructor walked over to where Ziva and Natalie were standing. He stuck out his hand to introduce himself. "I'm Steven Williams, the music teacher here. You must be Natalie's Mom?" He asked.

Ziva paused, she was unsure of how to answer that question. She looked down at Natalie whose eyes seemed to be pleading with her to say yes.

"Yes." Ziva replied and saw a huge grin grow on Natalie's face. "Ziva David." She said extending her hand to shake the man's hand.

"It is great to meet you. Natalie is a wonderful girl and she has a lot of musical talent. You should be very proud of her." Mr. Williams said to Ziva.

Ziva smiled and pulled Natalie closer to her, "Thank you. I am very proud of her." Ziva replied as she looked down at Natalie and smiled.

"Well, it was nice to finally meet you. Hopefully we will see you at the spring concert." Mr. Williams said.

"Of course. " Ziva replied. "I would not miss it for the world."

Mr. Williams walked away and Natalie hugged Ziva tightly around her waist.

"You okay, my dear?" Ziva asked the little girl.

"Yep." Natalie smiled and the two walked out of the auditorium and made their way home.

On the way to Tony's house Natalie told Ziva all about school and her music program.

They got to the house and made their way inside.

"So what do you feel like doing?" Ziva asked Natalie. "I thought we could hang out for a while and then pick up dinner for when your Dad gets home."

"Okay. Cool." Natalie replied.

"Do you have any homework?" Ziva asked.

"No. I did it during recess. It was too cold to go outside so we had reading time."

"I see. Well anything you want to do?"

"Can we watch a movie?" Natalie asked.

"Sure we can." Ziva said. "What movie?"

"What A Girl Wants!!" Natalie said excitedly.

Ziva laughed. "Okay, you go put it in and I will make us popcorn."

Natalie nodded and bolted out of the room.

Just as Ziva put the popcorn in she got a call from Tony.

"Hey Z, just wanted to let you know I'm gonna be a little later than I thought. I ended up stuck in MTAC with Gibbs."

"That is alright. We were just about to sit down and watch a movie so that works out well." Ziva said.

"Thanks. I love you sweet cheeks." Tony said.

Ziva smiled, "I love you too my little hairy butt."

She hung up the phone and grabbed the popcorn and headed into the living room. Natalie was already all situated on the sofa and she motioned for Ziva to come and join her.

"That was your Dad on the phone. He is going to be a little later than he thought. Are you okay with eating later?" Ziva asked.

Natalie nodded her head and snuggled up to Ziva.

"Okay, lets start this movie."

The girls started watching the movie until about twenty minutes in when Natalie blurted out, "I wish you were my real Mom."

Ziva did not know how to respond at first. She took a deep breath and said, "Me too sweetheart. But just because I am not your real Mom does not mean I love you any less."

"Really?" Natalie asked.

"Of course, just because we are not related by our genes does not mean that we cannot be family. I love you and you love me. What do you think of when you think of what a mother is supposed to be?

"Well," Natalie contemplated, "she comes to your ballet recitals and soccer games, tucks you in goodnight, holds you when you cry, and kisses your owies."

"And when I think about a daughter I think about the same things, going to recitals and games, tucking you in at night, holding you when you are sad, and kissing your owies. Moms like those things because it makes them feel like they are needed. And you make me feel needed and I like that. I feel protective of you and I want the best for you. So I do not think it matters that we are not related by our genes, because we love each other and we need each other." Ziva said.

"Ohh," Natalie said, the smile growing on her face. "I think I understand."

"Good, so do not ever let anyone tell you that I love you less because you are not my real daughter, because it is not true." Ziva said, kissing the little girl on the forehead.

Natalie smiled and asked another question. "When are you and Daddy going to get married? Can I call you Mom then?"

"Well we have not talked about getting married yet. But we want to. And you can start calling me Mom whenever you want. In fact I would love it if you called me Mom." Ziva said, pulling the little girl closer to her.

"Thanks. When you and Daddy do get married, can I be the flower girl?" Natalie asked.

Ziva laughed, "of course you can!"

Natalie snuggled back into Ziva's side and they continued to watch the movie.

Tony walked in the door around 20:30 and noticed it was rather quiet. They had to be there because Ziva's car was parked out front. He walked into the living room to find the two girls snuggled together, fast asleep on the sofa. He smiled and pulled out his phone. This was too cute not to take a picture of, the two people he loved most in the world cuddled together, sleeping soundly on his sofa. He then walked around and pulled a blanket over them so that they would not be cold. Then he bent down and kissed each of them on the forehead. As he kissed Ziva, she stirred slightly and opened her eyes.

"Sorry to wake you Sleeping Beauty." Tony said.

"Tony, what time is it?" Ziva asked groggily, softening her voice as to not wake Natalie.

"It's 20:30. You guys had a long day I guess." He said.

"I guess so. I did not realize I was this sleepy." Ziva replied with a yawn.

"Did you guys eat yet?" Tony asked.

"No, we fell asleep watching the movie." Ziva said as she sat up carefully. "Should we wake her up to eat?"

"Yeah, she needs to eat something before bed." Tony replied. He reached down to gently tousle Natalie's hair. "Hey Peanut, we gotta eat before we go to bed."

Natalie slowly opened up her eyes, looking confused at first and then smiling because she realized her Dad was there.

"Daddy!" Natalie said, as she sat up and leaped into Tony's arms.

"Hey there pretty girl." Tony said as he hugged Natalie back.

Ziva observed their interaction. She smiled; Natalie and Tony's interactions were possibly the sweetest things she had ever seen. It was funny to think about Tony and how immature and annoying he could be sometimes but when it came to Natalie he was the most loving father in the world.

Tony looked at Ziva, he saw her smiling and smiled back. "You know what Peanut, I think Ziva wants in on this hug." He said.

Natalie quickly agreed, "Yeah!" She said as they both pulled Ziva into their hug.

Natalie kissed her Dad and Ziva both on the cheeks. "Family hug!" She said.

Tony smiled, he was glad that Natalie was happy with the new situation.

"Hey why don't you go wash your hands for dinner? Daddy picked up Chinese and I got you your favorite." Tony said.

"Ohh thanks Daddy!" Natalie squealed as she jumped off the sofa and ran for the bathroom.

Ziva laughed, "I wish I had that much energy!"

"Don't we all." Tony said, he leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Ziva's lips.

"I missed you." He said, leaning his forehead against hers and running his hands through her hair.

Ziva put her hands on his neck and pulled him closer to her, kissing him again. "We have only been apart for a couple hours." She said.

"I know, but I missed you anyway." Tony said.

Ziva smiled, "I missed you too."

Just then Natalie bolted back in the room.

"Come on! I'm hungry!!" She said, bouncing up and down as she made her way back into the kitchen.

Tony and Ziva both burst out laughing, "We should probably go before she eats everything." Tony said.

Ziva laughed, as did Tony, then he said, "No, seriously Ziva, she's little but she sucks up food like a vacuum."

Tony got up and extended his hand to Ziva. She intertwined their fingers and they walked into the kitchen together to have their family dinner.


	8. I Am Changing

A/N: This is a short chapter but since all your reviews have been so sweet I thought I would give you a quick update. Please keep the reviews coming; they really do make me write faster! Chapter 9 should be up by Thursday night if I get a good amount! And there are some pretty cute moments in Chapter 9! Also, PLEASE read and review my one-shot smutty ending to Chapter 6, its called "Ready To Love Again." THANK YOU!!

Chapter 8

"I Am Changing"

"Look at me, look at me/I'm changing/trying every way I can/I am changing/I'll be better than I am/I'm trying to find a way to understand/But I need you, I need you/I need a hand/I am changing/seeing everything so clear/I am changing/I'm gonna start right now, right here/I'm hoping to work it out/and I know that I can/but I need you, I need a hand."~Dreamgirls

Tony and Ziva had officially been dating for two weeks, and it was going great. They were able to keep up their usual banter while at the office and go right to acting like they had been together for years while at home and a major plus was they had gotten to go to Paris together for a day on work and thanks to a mix up at the hotel, had ended up sharing a room. That had been pure luck. But it had been getting harder and harder to hide every aspect of their relationship and now they needed to tell Gibbs.

Today was the first morning they were driving to work together; this gave them no choice but to tell Gibbs. He would know the minute they walked in anyway.

"This is a bad idea." Tony said, nervously clutching the wheel as they made their way to work.

"Well there is no turning back now, he is going to know the minute we walk into work together." Ziva replied.

"I could always just hang out in the car for fifteen minutes or so?" Tony pleaded.

Ziva glared at him.

"I know, I know. I want to tell him, really I do but I'm just scared he's going to smack me so hard I can't even remember the last two weeks." Tony said, a look of legitimate fright on his face.

Ziva laughed, "I'm sure it will be no worse of a Gibbs slap than usual. Relax."

They pulled into the parking lot, and got up to get out of the car. They silently made their way into the building and into the elevator. The elevator dinged, signaling their arrival and as the doors opened Tony said, "Well, here's to the end of life as we know it." He smiled at Ziva and she smiled back as they made their way into the bullpen.

There was Gibbs, sitting at his desk; at least he had coffee so he would not be too grumpy.

Tony looked at Ziva who urged him along with her eyes.

"Uhh Boss, umm…"

"Spit it out DiNozzo." Gibbs said, looking at Tony with a slight look of annoyance.

"Could Ziva and I talk to you for a minute?" He asked, nervously fiddling with his hands as Ziva stood back, trying not to fidget herself.

Gibbs stared at them as if to say 'Get on with it', with his eyes.

"Uhh Boss if we could actually talk to you somewhere a little more private…that would be good." Tony asked, a little scared now.

Gibbs looked at them both. Ziva studied his face, he knew. Oh god, he definitely knew. Crap. He then got up and made his way to the elevator.

Tony and Ziva quickly followed him. Ziva shot a glance at Tony; this was not going to be good. Tony wanted so badly to reach out and take her hand but he knew that would be the worst way possible to inform Gibbs of their relationship.

They stepped into the elevator with Gibbs and as the doors closed he flipped the emergency switch.

"The floor is yours DiNozzo." He said, leaning back against the elevator and starting at Tony.

Tony looked at Ziva and slowly started speaking, "Boss, Ziva and I we wanted to tell you that we have kind of started seeing each other."

"Kind of started seeing each other?" Gibbs asked, putting emphasis on the words 'kind of'.

"Well no," Tony said, "not kind of. We are definitely seeing each other."

"Paris." Gibbs said flatly.

"Actually no," Ziva chimed in, "it happened before Paris. On New Years Eve."

"I see." Gibbs said, staring at them.

Tony was getting really nervous now, he was sure this was just the calm before the storm. They were really going to get it.

"Rule number twelve." Gibbs said, still staring them down.

Tony breathed a deep breath, "We know we are breaking rule number twelve but we couldn't help it boss. This wasn't just a one night thing or month long thing. This is real and we have both been denying it for the past five years, I love her boss. I really do."

Gibbs stared hard at Tony and saw something he rarely saw in the young agent, fear. He wasn't just asking to break rule number twelve, he was asking for Gibbs' blessing. He needed it, he really loved her.

Gibbs was quiet so Ziva felt she should say something to back Tony up, "Really Gibbs. This is it for us. We know it. I love Tony too."

Gibbs was silent for a minute longer before finally speaking.

"Congratulations." He said.

Tony and Ziva stood there in shock; they honestly had not been prepared for that response from him.

"But, I have a couple rules for you to follow. 1. Keep it out of the office; I do not want to see it. and 2. Don't let it affect your work, I know you two can be professional but do not let this get in the way of your judgment. Got that?

"Yes Boss." Tony and Ziva said simultaneously.

Gibbs flipped the emergency switch off the elevator and it started moving again. They got back to their floor and before the doors opened, Ziva moved to step off. Gibbs lightly grabbed her arm and leaned over, "I'm glad that you are happy Ziver." He whispered in her ear and kissed her on the forehead.

Ziva almost teared up. She nodding, with a smile on her face and stepped off the elevator. Tony moved to get off as well and Gibbs grabbed his arm as well.

"Not you." He said. As the door shut and he flipped the emergency switch on again.

Now Tony was nervous.

Gibbs stepped up a little closer to Tony, "DiNozzo, you know that you are like a son to me but I am going to say this anyway. If you hurt her, I will hurt you." Gibbs said, dead serious.

"I know boss, I won't hurt her. I promise." Tony said sincerely.

Gibbs looked at him and smiled, "I know you won't, I just wanted to remind you. I'm happy for you Tony." He said as he flipped the switch and walked out the elevator.

Tony smiled, Gibbs was happy for them. They had Gibbs blessing. He was finally getting everything he wanted.


	9. The Best Day

A/N: So Jack Knife…..AWWW Tony was so jealous of Damon Werth! Adorable! There seriously has to be something going on. They are being way too chummy with each orther! If there is not confirmation of Tiva soon I may cry! But I mean seriously, they keep bringing it up! It HAS to happen! AND Ziva knew he slept in a chair and the way she kept looking at him. There has to be something there! Obviously I am 100% pro-Tiva. Lol

Also, I think I said I would try to put this up Thursday. But it was really hard for me to write. There are a lot of Ziva-Natalie moments and writing it made me miss my Mom so I kept having to stop. Also, I unexpectedly spent the weekend in the city of Tiva (a.k.a. Paris) which is why I am just updating now. Please Read & Review. Love you all. (If I get at least 10 new reviews….I just might post a new chapter tomorrow because it just might already be written. :])

This chapter is dedicated to my beautiful Mother, Daniela Talya Friedman, who died February 28, 1995. And to my best friend's Mother, Isabel Magdalena Castillo, who died August 17, 2002, because she treated me like her own daughter. I miss you both more than words could even begin to describe.

Chapter 9

"The Best Day"

"I don't know why all the trees change in the fall/ I know you're not scared of anything at all/don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away/but I know I had the best day with you, today."~Taylor Swift

Tony rummaged around the pantry looking for maple syrup to complete the pancakes he, Ziva, and Natalie had made. He finally located it in the back and grabbed it. "Ah ha!" He exclaimed.

Natalie laughed and clapped as he dramatically pulled the bottle out and brought it over to the table.

"Now we have pancake perfection!" Tony said as he started covering Natalie's pancakes with the thick syrup.

Ziva laughed, she loved being able to witness more of Tony's interactions with Natalie. She had always known he was a good father, but she had never realized how wrapped around her finger Natalie had him.

"So, you girls excited for the Ohio State game today?" Tony asked, excitedly.

Ziva groaned, "About that, I was thinking you and Gibbs could have a little male bonding time watching the game and Natalie and I could have a little bonding time doing some girl stuff?" She ventured.

Natalie jumped up in her chair and squealed in excitement. "Yes Daddy! Can Ziva and I have girl time? Pleaaasseee?" Natalie pleaded, her big eyes staring up at Tony.

Great how was he supposed to say no to that face? "Really Peanut, you love Ohio State?" He asked.

"But Daddy we watch them play every weekend. I want to do girl stuff with Ziva, pretty please?" Natalie begged, crossing her hands and pouting adorably.

"Okay, you can go." Tony caved.

"Yay!" Natalie exclaimed, jumping out of her chair. "Thanks Daddy! I'm gonna go get ready!" She said as she bolted out of the room.

Ziva could not help but burst out laughing, that girl was just too funny sometimes.

Tony looked at her with his mischievous grin on his face. "Hmm, looks like someone didn't want to watch the Bucks?" He asked.

"It is not that I do not like them…I just prefer football!" Ziva said.

"Sure sure, well Gibbs and I can 'bond' or whatever. What do you plan on taking her to do?" Tony asked.

"Well, I was thinking she might enjoy going to get a pedicure. I see little girls go all the time with their Mothers so I thought it would be nice for her."

Tony smiled, it made his heart melt that Ziva treated Natalie so much like her own daughter. "She will love that Z." He said, then adding. "So, you get pedicures? Kinda girly there my ninja." He said, teasing her.

"I only get them because after my sparring class my feet can sometimes get rough. It helps. Plus you would not want my feet rough and scratchy would you?" Ziva said, teasing him back.

Tony made a face, "Uhh right, that would be gross."

Ziva laughed. "So when is Gibbs coming over?"

"Around 14:00. We want to cook a little before the game starts at 15:00." Tony said, grabbing their plates to put them in the dishwasher.

"Okay, that is when we will leave then. I am sure Natalie will at least want to say hi to Gibbs." Ziva replied as she walked over to the sink where Tony was standing. He finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher and stood to face her. Ziva then stepped in closer and put her arms around him.

"You alright, sweet cheeks?" Tony asked, as he pulled her into a tight hug.

"I am perfect, Tony. Thank you for letting me spend time with her." She said as she buried her head in his neck.

Tony kissed the side of her head. "I'm glad you two are spending time together. I think it's good for both of you." Tony said as he stroked her hair.

"I just want to be everything that she never had. Everything that I never had." Ziva said quietly.

"I know Z, and you are doing a great job. She has been happier the past few weeks than she has been in a long time. And it's because she loves having you around." Tony whispered, kissing her forehead.

Ziva lifted up her head and her lips found his. She loved kissing Tony, she hated to admit that he was a great kisser because of all the bragging he used to do, but he could definitely back up all the bragging. Ziva could kiss him for hours and still want more. Tony DiNozzo just kept on surprising her. Just as Tony deepened the kiss Natalie burst back into the room.

"Ziva, Ziva can you braid my hair please?" She asked.

Ziva slowly pulled away from Tony, "Of course I can my dear. I will be right there. You have your brush and a rubber band?"

"I'll got get it!" Natalie exclaimed and ran right back out of the room.

Tony laughed and put his forehead against Ziva's, "If it was any other kid, I would be so annoyed for interrupting that. But with her the all the excitement and bursting in at random times just makes her that much cuter." He said.

"That is because she is your daughter. And she has you wrapped around her finger." Ziva added, kissing him lightly on the lips before making her way out of the kitchen and to Natalie's room.

Tony shook his head, she was right; Natalie had him wrapped around her cute little finger. And he was perfectly all right with that.

Ziva walked into Natalie's room, "okay what kind of braid do we want today?"

"Can you do one of those front side braids please?" Natalie asked.

"Of course." Ziva said as she sat down on the bed and instructed Natalie to stand in front of her. "Did you get taller?" Ziva asked as she realized that she could not see over Natalie's head like she used to be able to.

Natalie laughed, "Yeah I did. I grew almost 3 inches last year!" Natalie exclaimed and then it hit Ziva, she had not braided Natalie's hair in more than a year. Things with her and Tony had gone downhill long before she had left for Israel and poor Natalie had been caught in the middle.

"I have not braided your hair in a long time." Ziva said quietly as she gently brushed the little girls long brown hair. It looked as if it had gotten darker in the last year, longer too. Ziva could feel the tears in her eyes. She had not realized that her stupid fighting with Tony had affected someone else so much.

"No, but it's okay. You are now." Natalie said.

Ziva smiled, Natalie could be so mature sometimes.

"I am sorry for leaving last summer Natalie and I am sorry for not spending much time with you last year either." Ziva said.

"It's okay." Natalie said, "You were said. I understand. Sometimes when I'm sad I don't like to talk to anyone either."

Ziva pulled Natalie in to hug her, "You are too good to me sweetheart. You know I love you more than the world right?" She asked.

Natalie grinned, "I love you too Ziva."

The girls' let each other go from their hug and Ziva braided Natalie a little french braid down the front part of her hair.

"There." Ziva said. "Done!"

Natalie looked in the mirror. "Thanks Ziva, I really like it! I'm gonna go show Daddy!" She said as she ran out of the room.

Ziva followed her out of the room. Tony was sitting in the living room flipping through channels when Natalie burst in.

"Daddy isn't my braid cute?!" She asked.

"Wow Peanut, you look gorgeous!" Tony said, pulling the little girl onto the sofa and into a huge hug.

Ziva smiled at the scene in front of her. Tony kissed Natalie's head before she jumped right back up and said. "I have to go change my clothes. What are we going to do today?" She asked.

Ziva answered, "Wear something warm, what we do is a surprise." She teased.

Natalie squealed in excitement and ran into the room.

Tony turned around to look at Ziva, "I didn't know ninja's could braid hair?" He said, giving her a quizzical look.

Ziva rolled her eyes; "I am also a girl, Tony." She said as she sat down beside him.

"I know, that's my favorite part about you." Tony whispered in her ear.

Ziva laughed. "You know she is going to be a heartbreaker when she is older."

"Nope." Tony said. "She's not allowed to date until she's married."

Ziva had a confused look on her face. "That does not even make sense?" She said.

"Sure it does. Natalie is not allowed to date anyone until she gets married which means never so then if she is never allowed to date I never have to share her with a greasy haired surfer bro." Tony said, dead serious.

Ziva laughed. "I hardly think that will be Natalie's type. They say that most girls date men like their fathers. And you should get over that because you are going to have to share her eventually."

"Ohh man a guy like me, I think that would be scarier." Tony groaned and sunk into the sofa.

Ziva laughed even harder before adding seriously, "Tony, you are the most wonderful father, she is not going to remember all the women you dated. When she dates someone she is going to think about how well her Dad treats her and his own wife and know that she deserves to be treated just as well." She said, as she cupped Tony's face in her hand gently.

Tony smiled, "Thanks Z. So…I'm going to be married by the time Natalie starts dating?" He said, his eyes dancing with excitement by Ziva's slip of the tongue.

"Well, I was just guessing. I do not know." She said, fumbling for words and removing her hand from his face.

Tony sat up and grabbed her face with his own hands, "Ziva, believe me when I say this. I fully intend to be married by then. And the best part is, I've already met the girl I want to marry." He said.

Ziva blushed, Tony just had this way of making her feel so wanted and loved. She did not think she would trade that feeling for anything. He kissed her lightly on the lips and then pulled back as he heard the doorbell ring.

"That would be Gibbs." He said, as he reluctantly got up.

He opened the door to their boss as Natalie burst down the hallway and just as Tony had grabbed the bag of food from his arms, Natalie leapt up into them.

"Gibbs!!" She squealed excitedly. Gibbs smiled his huge smile that was reserved just for Natalie and gave her a big hug.

"Hey there munchkin." Gibbs said as he set her down. "How are you?" He asked her.

"I'm good, Ziva's taking me to do girl stuff!" Natalie said excitedly.

"Well that sounds like a lot of fun, you're a lucky girl that you've got Ziva." Gibbs said as he looked over and smiled warmly up at Ziva, who smiled a thank you back.

"Yeah, she's the best." Natalie said, sincerely.

Gibbs patted the little girls hair softly as a sign of agreement.

"So Natalie and I should get going so you two can get to your grilling and game." Ziva said, and then added, "How about you grab your coat Natalie and we will be off?"

"Okay!" Natalie said and again bolted off to her room to get her coat and Ziva walked into Tony's room to get hers. She walked back out into the living room and Tony was standing at the door ready to go, Ziva grabbed her keys and purse. The girls said their goodbyes to Tony and Gibbs and they were off.

They chatted on the way there, Ziva noticed how Natalie had traded her usual ski coat for the black pea coat Tony had gotten her for Christmas that just happened to match Ziva's own black pea coat and she wore the gloves and scarf that Ziva had gotten her for Christmas, which made Ziva smile. Ziva had never really wanted a kid, she had never thought she was nurturing enough to have children but Natalie had changed her, made her softer. And she liked that.

They pulled up to an ice skating rink and Natalie started bouncing up and down in her seat. "We are going ice skating?" She asked excitedly.

"Yes we are. That is if you want to?" Ziva asked.

"Yes yes!!" Natalie said, jumping out of the car.

Ziva laughed as Natalie bounded out of the car and ran towards the skate rental area. Ziva followed quickly and caught up to her.

"Well hello there." Said the woman behind the counter to Natalie.

"Hi!" Natalie said exuberantly, "Is this where we get our skates?" She asked.

"Why yes it is missy. What size can I get for you?"

"A one please." Natalie said.

"And what size can I get for you?" The woman asked Ziva.

"Eight please." Ziva said, standing next to Natalie and patting her head.

"Here you go." The woman said as she brought out the skates. "That'll be $6."

Ziva handed her the money and she smiled back at them.

"You all been skating before?" She asked Ziva and Natalie.

"I have, Daddy takes me." Natalie responded.

"I have not been in a very long time, so this should be interesting." Ziva said, smiling at the woman.

"It's okay, I'll hold your hand." Natalie said.

The woman smiled, "What a sweet little thing she is. Looks just like you too."

Natalie squeezed Ziva's hand and Ziva smiled, "Thank you." They turned to walk over to a bench and put their skates on. Natalie was intently focused on getting her skates on and Ziva just studied her for a minute, they did look a little bit alike now that she thought about it. They shared the same long, dark hair, wide eyes, although Natalie's were Tony's green ones, and their round but still thin faces. Ziva couldn't help but smile as she watched Natalie concentrate on getting her laces just right as Ziva quickly tied her own.

"You ready my dear?" Ziva asked, when she had her skates all laced up.

Natalie finished securing her laces and nodded vigorously.

"Okay, lets see if I can stand up in these." Ziva said as she slowly stood up, she found her footing and grabbed Natalie's hand as they made their way to the rink.

"You ready?" Natalie asked excitedly as she reached her foot out to step onto the ice.

"I think so." Ziva said, gripping her hand a little tighter.

The girls both placed their feet on the ice at the same time and Ziva instantly felt shaky, she had not done this in a long time. She moved slowly out onto the ice while Natalie laughed at her side, witnessing the kickass ninja assassin being so cautious.

"Something funny to you?" Ziva asked, as she started to laugh herself.

"You!" Natalie said, laughing even harder. She then gripped Ziva's hand tighter and pulled her along.

Ziva slowly got the hang of it again as the girls skated around the rink. They skated for more than two hours as they talked and laughed at Ziva as she gradually built up her confidence on the ice.

"Alright, I think I am ready to give my feet a rest. What do you think?" Ziva asked Natalie.

"Okay, me too. What are we going to do now?" Natalie asked as the girls skated over to a bench to take their skates off.

"Well, I could sure use some foot pampering after having to squeeze my feet into these skates so I was thinking we could go get pedicures?" Ziva replied.

"Really?" Natalie said, her eyes wide with excitement. "Paige's Mom takes her to get pedicures. I've never been."

"Well, then it's settled, you and I are getting pedicures!" Ziva said as she put her boots back on.

Natalie quickly put on her own boots, Ziva couldn't help but notice the huge smile that had been plastered on Natalie's face since the moment she had mentioned a girls day and it made her feel all warm inside knowing that such simple things as spending time together could make Natalie so happy.

The two made their way to the counter to return their skates, the same woman who was there took them back. "So did you girls have fun?" She asked.

"Yeah we did!" Natalie responded, "Now we're going to get pedicures!" She said, excitedly.

"Well aren't you a lucky girl, you're Mom must love you an awful lot." She said, smiling at Natalie.

Natalie grinned back, "Thank you. She does." She answered before looking at Ziva and taking her hand in her own.

Ziva thanked the woman and they made their way to the car.

The girls arrived at the nail salon and were quickly ushered into two chairs, the girls knew Ziva because she came in about once a month.

The girl who usually did Ziva's nails sat them down in two chairs in the back. Natalie's eyes were wide with excitement. Ziva explained that this was her first time and asked if the girls would walk her through what they were doing. Gina and Anna were the girls working on Ziva and Natalie; they both gushed over Natalie.

"I love your braid, you are such a pretty girl." Anna told Natalie as she started working on her small feet.

Natalie blushed, "Thank you."

"You look just like your Mom here." Gina added.

Natalie blushed even more. "Thank you." She said again.

Ziva did not really talk about her personal life to Gina and Anna so they did not know that Ziva was not really her mother, but she did not care. As far as anyone else was concerned, Ziva considered Natalie to be her daughter.

Anna started talking to Natalie about what she was doing while Gina started working on Ziva's feet.

"She is precious, Ziva. " Gina gushed, "I cannot believe you haven't brought her in until now!"

"I guess I never thought about it until now, but I saw someone in here last time with their daughter so I thought she would like it. She's still little but every girl likes to get pampered." Ziva said, watching Natalie giggle as Anna tickled her feet and made her laugh. Ziva smiled.

The girls got their pedicures and chatted with Gina and Anna, who were both enthralled by Natalie. It was the "DiNozzo Charm" as Tony called it, which always made Ziva roll her eyes. But she had to admit it, Natalie did have the same ability as Tony to make people laugh and keep them interested in what she was saying.

It was time for them to pick their polish colors, "So what color do you want Natalie?" Anna asked.

"Ummm, I don't know. What color are you getting?" She asked Ziva.

"Well, I was thinking something fun because it's winter, like a purple." Ziva said, knowing purple was Natalie's favorite color.

"Ohh I like this purple!" Natalie said pointing at one of the dark purple samples.

"I like that color too." Ziva said, smiling at Natalie.

"You're gonna get it too, right?" Natalie asked, somewhat unsure.

"Yes, I think purple is a good color for winter." Ziva said.

"Okay." Natalie said, turning back to Anna with a big smile on her face.

Ziva smiled too.

"Aww, that is precious. She wants to be just like you." Gina exclaimed.

Ziva looked over at Natalie and smiled. It was nice to be looked up too.

The girls finished painting their nails and they were left to dry.

Ziva looked at her watch and noticed that it was a little after 5, a little early for dinner but since they had a long day she figured Natalie would be hungry.

"So my dear, what do you say we get some dinner before we head back home to bother your Daddy and Gibbs?" She asked.

"Yeah! Where should we go?" Natalie asked.

"Well, what are you hungry for?" Ziva asked.

"Um…" Natalie pondered, "I like pasta." She said.

"Pasta sounds great." Ziva said, "Okay now put your shoes on carefully so that you do not scratch the polish and then we will be out of here!"

Natalie nodded and did exactly what Ziva told her. Ziva paid Anna for the pedicures, "You have got to bring her back here more often, Ziva. She is adorable!" Anna said.

Ziva smiled, "Thank you, I will definitely bring her back sometime soon."

Natalie said goodbye to the girls and she and Ziva made their way out to the car.

They got to the restaurant and were seated right away. Natalie insisted on getting a big girls menu, just like Ziva. Of course the waitress thought she was adorable, as did everyone else on the planet.

Ziva decided to get penne and Natalie decided to get manicotti and then they would share their meals.

They were sitting there waiting for their pasta to be delivered when Natalie said, "Thank you for taking me out today. I like having girls days with you."

Ziva smiled, "Anytime sweetheart. Hopefully we will have more of these?" She asked.

Natalie's face lit up as she nodded her head vigorously. "My real Mom never did anything like this with me."

Ziva swallowed she knew from Tony that Natalie did not talk about her mother much, "I am sorry about that sweetheart."

"Ziva…"Natalie started, "…why didn't she love me?"

"Oh my dear, of course she loved you." She said, she had no idea why but she couldn't imagine how someone could not love this little girl. Perfect strangers fawned over her for god's sake, how cold hearted did the woman have to be to not even love her a little bit?

"Why did she leave then?" Natalie asked.

Ziva took a deep breath, truthfully she had no idea but she could not say that to Natalie. She needed an answer. She finally answered, "Because she was scared sweetheart. She just did not know how to raise a baby."

"I don't remember her." Natalie said softly.

"I know that's hard Natalie, but you have to remember that you have a lot of people who love you more than the world. You have Gibbs and Abby and McGee and Ducky, they love you so much. And you know I love you and I would do anything for you. And your Daddy, well he loves you more than anything in the world. You my dear, have the best Daddy in the world. You mean everything to him. You are a lucky girl to have a Daddy who loves you like that because not every little girl has as good of a Daddy as you." Ziva said, switching sides in the booth so that she was sitting with Natalie and she pulled her in close to her side.

"My Daddy is the best." Natalie said, smiling again. "What's your Daddy like Ziva?"

Ziva held Natalie to her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "Well," she said, "my Father is not like yours. He is not a very good person."

Natalie looked up at Ziva, "I'm sorry." She said, her face truly apologetic.

"It's okay, my dear. I have other people who love me."

"I love you." Natalie said.

"I know you do, and that makes me very happy." Ziva said, combing her fingers through the little girls hair.

"And Daddy really loves you, a lot. He was so sad when you left last summer. He cried once. Daddy never cries." Natalie said.

"Your Daddy loves me a lot, I love him too. You guys love me enough, I am also a lucky girl." Ziva said, smiling down at Natalie.

Then their food arrived, the girls ate and talked about happier things.

They finished their food and of course, had to order desert. They got cheesecake to share since they were both pretty stuffed from dinner.

They were talking about some school stuff of Natalie's when Natalie asked, "You and Dad are going to get married right?"

Ziva was caught off guard somewhat, she recovered quickly though. "Well we have talked about it. But nothing is official, I want to marry him though." She said.

Natalie smiled, "Okay, do you want to have more kids?"

"Hmm," Ziva thought, "maybe someday." She paused; she knew where this was going. "But you know that you will always be my little girl. If and when your Dad and I decided to have a baby you have to remember that you will always be our baby girl. No matter what."

Natalie smiled, "I would really like a little brother." She pleaded with her eyes.

Ziva laughed, "Maybe you will get one in a couple years."

Natalie seemed to find the answer acceptable; she finished eating her cheesecake and the two made their way home.

They arrived at the house to find Tony and Gibbs still watching basketball. Ohio State had won earlier in the day so they were going to play again at 19:30, which was right around the time Ziva and Natalie arrived home.

"Hi!" Natalie yelled from the door as she ran toward the living room.

"Heya Peanut, how was girls day?" Tony asked her as he pulled her into a bear hug.

"It was awesome! We went ice skating and got our toenails painted purple and got pasta!" She exclaimed.

"Wow you guys had quite the day there." Tony said, looking at Ziva and smiling.

Natalie whipped off her shoes to show off her purple toes. "Look Gibbs" She said.

Gibbs laughed, "Wow Munchkin, those are some pretty little toes." He said, as he tickled her foot and she collapsed onto the sofa, laughing.

Ziva and Natalie decided to watch the game with Tony and Gibbs. Natalie, exhausted from the girls' day, passed out on the sofa halfway though the game. Around 21:30 the game was over and Gibbs decided to call it a night, he said goodnight to Tony and Ziva and was on his way home.

Tony moved to pick up Natalie and she slowly opened her eyes. "Well, well, long day there Peanut?" Tony asked. "I think we need to head to bed."

Natalie nodded her head sleepily as Tony picked her up and headed to her room.

Natalie put her pajamas on and brushed her teeth and was settled in her bed in no time. "Ziva , would you sing me a song before I go to sleep?" She asked.

"Of course, my dear." Ziva replied, sitting down next to Natalie, opposite of Tony.

"What song do you want me to sing?" She asked.

"I don't care. Something pretty." Natalie said as she snuggled up and made herself cozy between Ziva and Tony.

"Okay…" Ziva said, just as a song popped into her head and she started singing.

"_Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, _

_I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to. _

_Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,_

_In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you_

_Though I know that evenings empire has returned into sand,_

_Vanished from my hand, left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping_

_My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet, I have no one to meet_

_And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming._

_Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, _

_I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to. _

_Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,_

_In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you_

_Take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship,_

_My senese have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip_

_My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels to be wandering_

_I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade into my own parade_

_Cast your dancing spell away, I promise to go under it, _

_Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, _

_I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to. _

_Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, _

_In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you_

_Though you might hear laughin', spinnin', swingin' madly across the sun, _

_It's not aimed at anyone, it's just escapin' on the run _

_And but for the sky there are no fences facin'. _

_And if you hear vague traces of skippin' reels of rhyme _

_To your tambourine in time, it's just a ragged clown behind, _

_I wouldn't pay it any mind, it's just a shadow you're seein' that he's chasing._

_Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, _

_I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to. _

_Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, _

_In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you._

_Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind, _

_Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves, _

_The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach, _

_Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow. _

_Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, _

_Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, _

_With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, _

_Let me forget about today until tomorrow._

_Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, _

_I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to. _

_Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, _

_In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you."_

Ziva finished the song and Natalie looked like she could pass out at any time.

She smiled, "Thanks Ziva. You have a very pretty voice. " She said, "I love you."

Ziva smiled back and brushed a hair out of the little girls eyes, "Anytime my dear, I love you too." She said as she pressed a kiss up to her forehead.

Ziva and Tony both got up, Ziva walked to the door as Tony bent down to kiss Natalie on the forehead and he said the same thing he always said, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be."

And of course Natalie responded "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my Daddy you'll be."

Tony kissed her again on the forehead and she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Tony shut the light off and closed the door as he walked out. Ziva was standing there waiting for him. He took her into his arms.

"You have a beautiful voice, Z. I didn't know you were a Bob Dylan fan." He said.

Ziva smiled up at him, "I find his music to be soothing." She said, with her arms around his waist, and her head cozied up to him.

"Well maybe you can sing me to sleep tonight." Tony said, a devious glimmer in his eye.

Ziva brought her mouth up to his ear and whispered, "I have a little bit different plan to get you into bed."

Tony smiled and kissed her gently as she pulled him toward the bedroom.

A/N: I know that basketball is played at night and I do not think Ohio State is in any random tournaments this late in the season but it worked for my story so I do not care! lol


	10. Unforgettable

A/N: So I didn't get a lot of reviews…but I love you guys anyway so here's the next chapter. REVIEW PLEASE!

P.S. Betherzz….do not worry, there is a chapter coming about Ziva adopting Natalie :]

Chapter 10

"Unforgettable"

"Unforgettable, that's what you are/unforgettable, though near or far/like a song of love that clings to me/how the thought of you does things to me/never before has someone been more/unforgettable, in every way/and forevermore/that's how you'll stay/that's why darling it's incredible/that someone so unforgettable/thinks that I am unforgettable too."~Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole

Tony opened the door to Natalie's room; she was still sleeping peacefully in her bed. He walked over to her and sat down on the bed, brushing her long hair out of her face. She stirred slightly, looking like she was in the process of waking up. He was about to make one of the biggest decisions of his life and he wanted Natalie to be a part of that.

He smiled as she unconsciously snuggled up to his arm and grabbed it in her own. He loved to see her little hand in his, it reminded him of how much she had grown but also of how little she still was. Tony remembered the day he found out he was going to be a father, he honestly wasn't too thrilled. Back then he was still chasing loose women and running from anything that tied him down, the thought of having to take care of a baby absolutely terrified him.

Then, he found out the baby was going to be a girl, this scared him even more. At least with a boy he would have been able to play sports and teach him how to charm women, but a little girl? He honestly had no idea how he was going to manage.

He agreed with Natalie's mother that they were not going to be together, they would share custody and try to work together sometimes, but other than that they were on their own.

The day Natalie was born something in Tony changed, he had been the first person to hold her and picking up that little girl in his arms had felt so right. She had looked up into his eyes, and at that moment Tony realized there was nothing in the world he wouldn't do for his little girl. Her tiny fingers gripped his hand so tightly and he wanted nothing more than to hold her forever and protect her from anything and everything that ever threatened her.

He had been the one to name her, Natalie's mother had always tried to distance herself somewhat from the pregnancy and Tony had been the one to suggest her name, he liked it because it sounded pretty but also sophisticated. Also Natalie Wood had been one of his favorite actresses, but really the name just seemed to fit his beautiful little girl perfectly.

When Natalie's mother had left right before Natalie's second birthday, it had been hard but they had made it through and personally Tony thought they were much better off without the unnecessary drama she brought. He knew it was selfish, but he liked not having to share Natalie.

Tony was woken from his memory as Natalie stirred and began to open her eyes.

"Hey Peanut." He said, smiling down at her.

"Hi Daddy." Natalie said, sleepily.

He gave her a minute to stretch out before she fully woke up, Ziva had woken up early to go do something with Abby so Tony and Natalie had the day to themselves and Tony had the perfect plan.

"So, Ziva's with Abby. I thought you and I could carry out a secret mission." Tony said.

Natalie sat up quickly, "what kind?" She asked excitedly, her eyes lighting up as she spoke.

Tony pulled out a magazine from behind him and set it down in front of Natalie. "This kind."

Natalie squealed in excitement, "Daddy you are going to buy Ziva a ring!!" She said, barely able to contain her excitement.

Tony laughed, "Yep, I'm gonna ask Ziva to marry me, but before I can do that I need to get her a beautiful ring and I thought you could help me with that. " He said to Natalie.

"Oohh ooh yes I want to help!" She said, quickly jumping out of her bed.

"Okay okay Peanut, calm down!" Tony said putting his hands on her shoulders so she settled down. "Alright, now you have to promise me something."

Natalie nodded her head, "Okay?"

"You cannot tell Ziva anything about this. I won't be able to ask her for another week or two and I want her to be surprised, so you, Miss Cannot Tell A Lie, need to keep your mouth shut until you see this ring on Ziva's finger. Capisce?" Tony said.

Natalie laughed as she responded with "Capisce."

"Okay, lets eat some breakfast and get ready to leave. Sound good?" Tony asked as he bent down so Natalie could climb onto his back.

She giggled and hopped onto his back as he said, "Ready for take off? Destination, the kitchen!"

They had breakfast and got ready for their day, the pulled up to the mall and walked in. There it was Tiffany & Co., the mothership of engagement rings. Natalie grabbed his hand and dragged him into the store. They walked around to the back area of the store where Tony saw the engagement rings, there were so many of them and they were all beautiful. This was going to be difficult.

Tony and Natalie were looking at the displays when a woman came over to help them.

"Good morning sir, are you looking for an engagement ring?" She asked Tony.

Tony looked up, "Yeah, I am. I'm a bit lost here though."

"Well I would love to help you." She said, with a smile that made Tony feel a little better, hopefully she dealt with clueless men all the time.

"Do you know what kind of cut your fiancée likes?" She asked Tony.

"See she the only jewelry she really ever wears is a necklace. She's very simple when it comes to jewelry, so nothing too flashy." He said.

"Well we have many different cuts, round, princess, emerald, lucida, pear, oval, marquise, cushion, and heart." She said, pointing out each cut in the displays.

"Well we can definitely cut out heart, pear, and marquise, she wouldn't like those. I don't think she would like the circular ones either." Tony said, studying the cuts carefully.

"Okay, so then here we have princess, lucida, emerald, and cushion." She said as she pulled a couple rows of each cut out and put them on the table.

"Okay, these look like Ziva." Tony said as he pulled Natalie up into his arms so she could get a better look too.

"Ziva is your fiancées name, I've never heard that name before, its lovely." The saleswoman said, smiling at Tony and Natalie.

Tony smiled back, "Yeah the name suits the girl." He said studying the rings carefully, "Which do you like best, Peanut?" He asked Natalie.

"I like these." Natalie said, pointing at the emerald cut and adding, "I don't think she'll like it if you buy her the princess ones because she doesn't like it when you call her princess."

Tony and the saleswoman both laughed. "I think you might be right about that, Peanut." Tony said.

"You've got a very smart little girl there." The saleswoman said, smiling at Natalie.

Tony and Natalie preceded to pick out a beautiful emerald cut diamond for Ziva with two baguette diamonds on the sides, it was lovely, simple yet stunning, just like Ziva.

After getting the ring sized and everything sorted out, Tony and Natalie made their way outside. "How about we get us some hot chocolate, Peanut?" Tony asked, it was a rather nice day out so he wanted to take advantage of the sun and take Natalie for a little walk while he talked to her.

Natalie got her favorite peppermint hot chocolate and Tony got his coffee and they walked around the park chatting for a little bit about Natalie's school. Tony then sat down on a bench and pulled Natalie up to his side.

"So, I have never asked you this Peanut, but how do you feel about this whole situation? Are you okay?" Tony asked, looking intently at the little girl snuggled up to his side.

"Yes Daddy, I'm happy. I want Ziva to be my Mom so bad." Natalie said.

Tony smiled, "I'm glad. You're not upset that you're gonna have to share your dear old Dad with someone else?" Tony asked.

Natalie laughed, "No Daddy, Ziva makes you happy and she makes me happy. I like sharing you with her."

Tony hugged Natalie and kissed her forehead.

"Are you excited to get married Daddy?" Natalie asked, looking up at him.

Tony smiled, "Yeah, I am. I am really excited."

"How do you know that you want to marry someone?" Natalie asked.

"Well, you get this feeling. Like when you are around that person all you can do is smile and you just want to be with them forever. It feels like butterflies are in your stomach and are making you so happy that you feel like you could fly and every moment with that person gets better and better." Tony said.

"Will I ever find someone that gives me butterflies?" Natalie asked, looking up at Tony.

"Of course you will, someday when you are ready, you are going to meet a wonderful boy who treats you with respect and loves you and you will get married one day." Tony told her. "But you shouldn't think about that now. You have a long way till then and you have a lot to learn. You only get this kind of love once kiddo."

Natalie smiled and hugged Tony, "Thanks Daddy."

"Alright Peanut, how about we get going? I think you need some lunch." Tony said, as he stood up. Natalie followed suit and grabbed his hand and they walked together to the car.

A/N: Obviously I am a Tiffany's enthusiast, I picked out my soon to be step-mothers engagement ring with my Dad and thought it would be a cute thing for Tony & Natalie to do. REVIEW PLEASE :]


	11. If I Knew Then

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! I apologize it took so long for me to write this chapter, I was in Vancouver for the Olympics from Thursday until Sunday so I did not have much time, plus I had a couple midterms this week and now I am having two hour a day Russian lessons because my parents are adopting kids from Russia and I want to be able to talk to them!

Just a quick comment since some people asked, Natalie's mother is just a woman that Tony dated, she really has no significance. I have no plans to bring her into the story anytime soon….maybe. As always, Read & Review! xoxo

Disclaimer: (I always forget this damn thing!) I own a lot of stuff, unfortunately NCIS does not fall into that category.

Chapter 11

"If I Knew Then"

"The first time that I saw you/looking like you did/we were young/we were restless/just two clueless kids/but if I knew then/what I know now/I'd fall in love."~Lady Antebellum

They had been dating for six weeks, just six weeks but Tony already knew that he never wanted to be with anyone else. Heck, they had been dancing around a relationship for years; it was time to take it to the next level.

Tony had bought the ring and spent a week perfecting his plan for the proposal. And he had spent a week constantly reminding Natalie that she would not be getting the little yellow lab she so desperately wanted if she breathed a word of his plan to Ziva. He had not really wanted to get her a dog, but bribery was honestly the only option since Natalie had already blurted to Gibbs and Abby about Tony's plan to propose. He knew Natalie meant well, but she just couldn't keep quiet when she got really excited and the only thing he knew that would keep her little mouth shut was a puppy. Natalie had wanted a puppy for as long as Tony could remember and this seemed like a pretty good time to get her one.

It was a Friday night, the week had been relatively hectic but had begun to wind down and Gibbs had promised Tony that even if they got a case on Friday night he would not bother Tony and Ziva, although he did make clear that they better be ready to go on Saturday morning if it was necessary. Tony agreed, Gibbs was being more than accommodating.

Natalie had gotten dropped off at NCIS after school had gotten out and Tony had let her say hi to Ziva and then quickly took her down to Abby's lab to minimize the chance of a slip up. Then later that night, Abby was going to take Natalie home to spend the night at her house.

The clock stuck 1700. Gibbs looked up at Tony, and saw that he was fidgeting nervously.

"Why don't you all take off for the night." He stated, looking around at the team.

McGee and Ziva seemed a little surprised by Gibbs' willingness to let them off early, this never happened.

"DiNozzo, you can let Abby know we're done for the day." Gibbs said, as he walked up the stairs to Vance's office.

"Sure thing, Boss." Tony replied as he started heading downstairs and Ziva followed suit. They got to Abby's lab and heard laughter coming from inside.

"Uh oh, I guarantee you large quantities of sugar and Caf-Pow have been consumed." Tony said before they walked in the door.

They entered to find Abby and Natalie sitting at Abby's desk and laughing hysterically at something on the screen.

"Do I even want to know?" Tony asked.

Abby, noticing him finally, said "Probably not", with a wicked smile.

Natalie noticed her Dad and Ziva and jumped right out of the chair. "Daddy Daddy Daddy!!" she squealed as she jumped up to give Tony a hug.

"Hey there Peanut." Tony said as he hugged her back.

Natalie quickly jumped from his arms into Ziva's. "Ziva Ziva Ziva!!" She said with just as much enthusiasm as she jumped into her arms.

"Hello my dear. How was your day?" Ziva asked Natalie.

"It was great! Abby showed me how to do forensics and played games and went to visit Ducky!" She said, obviously still excited about the day's activities as she went into more detail about them to Ziva.

"You went to autopsy? I thought Ducky had a body down there?" Tony asked, not too happy about the thought of his 8 year old seeing a dead body.

"Tony," Abby said, slightly offended, "do you think I am a horrible godmother? Ducky sent the only body he had to the morgue last night." She said, with a smirk.

"Sorry Abs, I didn't mean that, I just don't want her down there with bodies. Kind of a scarring experience." He said.

Abby smiled, "I know, I was just messing with you!"

Tony laughed, "So Abs, Gibbs says we are off for the day."

Abby grinned at him. "So what are you two doing tonight?"

Ziva looked up from her conversation with Natalie, "We are just getting dinner and relaxing. What about you girls, any plans?"

Natalie looked like she was going to burst. Tony mouthed the word 'puppy' to her and he facial expression tightened like she had to go to the bathroom.

Abby noticed this and laughed, "I thought we would grab some food quick and go see The Princess and the Frog." She said and Natalie nodded her head in agreement.

Ziva noticed Natalie looked a little uncomfortable and asked, "Natalie are you alright?"

"She's fine, no worries, just excited!" Tony quickly responded.

Natalie nodded her head in agreement. Ziva stared at her a little confused until Tony said, "Alright lets get a move on, don't want to be late for those dinner reservations."

They said their goodbyes and Tony and Ziva started walking out of the room until they heard "Daddy, wait." Natalie said, looking a little confused.

Tony smiled, he knew what that look was about. "Look in the front pocket of your backpack Peanut." He said.

Natalie smiled, she didn't think her Daddy would have left her without a goodnight note.

As they walked to their cars, Tony breathed a sigh of relief. He had gotten through the week without Ziva finding out his plans. Now, he just had to make sure they worked out just as smoothly tonight.

They both went their separate ways to get ready for the date. Tony had made reservations at 7:00 at Ziva's favorite restaurant and then after that he had a little more planned than just the "relaxing" Ziva had in mind.

He showed up at her door promptly at 6:30. Ziva opened the door and he handed her a bouquet of lilies and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Hi." He said as he smiled at her and studied her outfit.

Ziva was wearing what looked to be a simple body hugging black dress; on the front, it went to her mid thigh and had ¾ length sleeves, it was not very low cut and just peaked at her cleavage. Then when she turned around Tony noticed that it was not just a simple dress, the dress had a U shaped drop in the back up until a bit before her butt so that the only things covering her back were two straps across it. The shoes she wore were incredibly sexy as well, black sky-high gladiator pumps. Tony immediately loved this outfit.

"Wow." He said, "You look stunning."

Ziva blushed slightly, she had been unsure of the dress when she had bought it because it was so different from her normal style but it had felt so good on her that she had to buy it, so she was glad Tony liked it as well.

"You do not look so bad yourself." Ziva said, smiling at him.

"You ready to head out?" Tony asked her.

"Yes, just let me grab my purse." Ziva said as she went quickly to her bedroom to grab it.

Tony looked around her apartment, he expected to feel nervous about the idea of asking Ziva to marry him but he wasn't, in fact he had never been more sure of anything in his entire life and just thinking about spending the rest of his life with Ziva, made him the happiest man on earth.

Ziva walked back out ready to go with her coat and purse.

"After you, sweet cheeks." Tony said as he opened the door for her.

They arrived at the restaurant and although Tony was completely certain of what he was about to do, he became increasingly more nervous about Ziva's answer. He knew she loved him but what if she wasn't ready to get married? He couldn't think about it, he just had to focus on the positive side. He was going to ask her and she was going to say yes. She just had to or else he didn't know how to go on living if she didn't.

Throughout dinner they chatted about anything and everything, Ziva could tell that Tony was a little uneasy about something.

"Tony, are you alright? You have been rather jiggley since we have gotten here." Ziva asked, with a concerned look on her face.

Tony smiled, "I think the word you are looking for is jittery, sweet cheeks."

"So you agree with me, you are being jittery?" Ziva shot back.

"No, that's not what I meant, I am not being jittery, I just have a little headache." He said, trying to cover his tracks.

"Well you should have said something, I have some aspirin in my purse." Ziva said as she reached down for the bottle.

"One of the many reasons why I love you." Tony said, smiling brightly at her.

Ziva relaxed a little bit, he seemed at little more at ease after he had taken the pills.

They ate the rest of their dinner and they were off.

"Tony, where are you going, your car is this way?" Ziva asked as Tony led them out of the restaurant and down the street.

"Well, I sort of had something special planned for us." He said as they rounded the corner.

Ziva gasped at the sight in front of her, there was a horse and carriage sitting on the side of the street.

"This, this is for us?" Ziva stammerd.

Tony laughed, "Yes, that is if you want to go?" He said a little uncertain of his plan.

"Of course I do!" Ziva said excitedly.

Tony helped her up into the carriage and then climbed in himself. There was a blanket sitting in the carriage that Tony pulled around their legs and then put his arm around Ziva and pulled her close as the carriage made it's way to the park across the street.

"Tony, why did you do all this?" Ziva asked, turning so she was snuggled close to his side.

"Because you deserve it." He said, looking at her before placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Tony, I would be happy just to be with you. You do not need to do all of this." Ziva said quietly.

"See, there's where you're wrong Ziva. Every woman deserves to be romanced and treated like a princess every once in a while. And you especially, I just want you to know how much you mean to me. I'm just glad you let me do this, if I had done this when we first met, you would have laughed in my face." Tony said.

"Well, I was a different person back then, I was trained not to feel and I was good at it. You know you were the one who changed that?" Ziva asked, staring earnestly into Tony's eyes.

"I did?" Tony asked her.

"Yes, when you were with Jeanne, right before that we had started to really get to know each other and become good friends and then I started falling for you and then all of a sudden you stopped calling and it was because you were with her. That tore me apart, that was the first time I allowed myself to really feel something." Ziva said.

Tony pulled her closer. "I am so sorry, Ziva."

Ziva took his hand in her own. "Do not apologize, remember what we promised each other? Anyway, it was better this way. Now we both know what we want, we have grown; we know what it is like to live without each other. This allows us to appreciate what we have."

Tony smiled at her, "Hold on one second." He said.

Ziva looked at him with a slightly confused look on her face as he leaned over and asked the driver to stop so they could walk for a minute.

They got out of the carriage by a beautiful bridge over a pond. The moon was reflecting over the water and it looked like a little slice of heaven.

"Tony look at this, I never noticed how beautiful Washington could be until I had to leave." Ziva said, leaning over the bridge railing to look at the water.

"It's beautiful. So are you." Tony said, kneeling on the ground behind her.

"Tony…" Ziva started to say as she turned around to see him with one knee on the ground. "What….what are you doing?" She asked nervously.

"Ziva, I know we have only been dating for six weeks, but they have been the best six weeks of my life. I never thought I could be as happy as I am right now. I love you so much and I know our relationship isn't perfect but I know that together we can get through anything, and I can't promise you that we will never fight but I can promise you that I will love you until the day I die and I will do everything in my power to make you happy for the rest of your life. Ziva David, will you spend the rest of your life with me?" As Tony said this he pulled the little blue box out of his pocket and took out the ring.

Ziva stood there with her hands over her mouth in shock, trying not to cry.

"So, what do you say?" Tony asked, looking a little nervous.

Ziva made the only rection she could render at the time, and nodded her head vigorously.

Tony stood up and took her in his arms.

Finally she was able to speak, "Yes Tony. Yes of course I will marry you." She said, a small tear escaping from her eye.

Tony grinned and kissed her passionately, it was like they were in their own little world. Nothing could ruin that perfect moment for them.

The finally broke apart and Tony pulled back slightly so he could slide the ring on her finger. She smiled as he put it on.

"Oh Tony, it's beautiful." She said, examining the ring.

"Natalie helped me pick it out. She said you would kill me if I got you a princess cut ring." He said with a laugh.

Ziva burst out laughing in response, "Ahh that girl knows me too well!"

"How about we head home?" Tony asked, pressing his forehead to hers in a seductive way.

"Sounds good to me." Ziva said, kissing him one last time before they hopped back up into the carriage and made their way home to celebrate.

READ & REVIEW PLEASE :]

A/N: Ziva's dress is a real one that I own. It is extremely sexy, it's an Alice+Olivia and I got it at Bloomingdales in case anyone wants to know! lol The shoes are real too, they are my favorite pair, I wear them 24/7!


	12. My Strongest Suit

A/N: I would just like to say thank you all so much for your kind reviews! I am glad you all like how cheesy and cliché this story is because I figure we get enough seriousness on the real NCIS and plus I just like writing fluff, it's fun!

Anyway, sorry the updates have been taking me so long. I had two midterms last week and I have two again this week so my life is pretty much owned by International Relations. Then Thursday night I leave for Ireland to spend my spring break touring castles, hanging with extended family, and freezing my butt off. So you will probably not get many chapters during the next two weeks, I apologize for that but I want to stress that I have not and will not forget about this story. I have a LOT of ideas and I will not stop until I have posted the entire story! Which, at this point, keeps getting longer! As always Read & Review :] Love you all!

Chapter 12

"My Strongest Suit"

"Oh now I believe in looking/like my time on earth is cooking/whether polka dotted/striped or even checked/with some glamour guaranteeing/every fiber of my being/is displayed to quite remarkable effect/from your cradle via trousseau/to your deathbed you're on view/so never compromise, accept no substitute/I would rather wear a barrel/than conservative apparel/for dress has always been/my strongest suit."~Aida

"Come on Ziva!" Abby and Natalie said simultaneously as the dragged Ziva into a bridal boutique. Hanging out with Abby and Natalie together was almost like being with two 8 year olds. When those two got something in their heads, there was no way it was not going to get done.

Ziva and Tony had of course told Natalie about the engagement the morning after it happened. Her reaction was nothing short of how Ziva had imagined it, she had jumped up and down excitedly and hugged both Tony and Ziva over and over again. Then they told the NCIS team about their engagement the Monday they went back to work, Gibbs and Abby already knew he was proposing and they assumed Abby would tell McGee, so they figured coming clean with it was the best way to go. Vance had agreed that if they were able to be professional together there was no reason why they could not still work together. Everything was finally settling into place, until Abby had suggested they go dress shopping, Ziva did not like dresses and she was not too excited about all the ruffles and lace that went along with wedding dresses.

"Abby we do not have to do this, Tony and I want a small wedding. I want a simple dress. Nothing about this store looks like it is going to be simple." Ziva said, trying to resist their tugging at her arms.

"Ziva, you HAVE to get a pretty dress. You can look like a princess!" Natalie said excitedly.

Ziva smiled at her, "Alright, I will try on dresses, but nothing too foofy."

Abby looked at her a little confused, "Oh, I think you mean poufy!" She said, laughing.

"Well, whatever. It cannot be poufy!" Ziva said, exasperated.

They walked into the store; it was filled with wedding gowns, some huge and flowy, others simple and elegant. Ziva was overwhelmed.

"I do not even know what I want. This is ridiculous." Ziva said.

"Here, you can just walk around and pick up anything you like and if you don't want to, just sit down and Natalie and I will bring dresses to you!" Abby said, running off before Ziva could protest.

Ziva walked around the store, there were so many dresses she did not even know where to begin. She finally just sat down by the dressing room and waited for Abby and Natalie to start bringing back dresses. She could see there was already a pile of them waiting, she groaned. This was going to be a long day, she wished Tony were here. Just as she thought that, a text appeared on her phone.

_Hey Sweet Cheeks. Having fun?_

_Haha. I am not, but Abby and Natalie sure are. _She texted back.

_I bet they are, you could be a little enthusiastic Sweet Cheeks, this is our wedding :] _Tony replied back.

_It is not that I am not excited, I am just more excited for the marriage than for the actual wedding. We can still elope can we not?_

_:] me too. Don't worry about the wedding, looking back you will be happy we did it the right way._

_Thanks Tony, I suppose you are right. Abby is coming back with her arms full of dresses, wish me luck._

_Good luck, I love you Sweet Cheeks._

_I love you too, my little hairy butt. :]_

Ziva snapped her phone shut as Abby and Natalie were walking toward her toting piles of wedding dresses. Ziva groaned. This was going to be interesting.

Natalie had her arms piled so high with the bottoms of the dresses whose top halves Abby was carrying, that you could not even see her face.

Ziva pulled the dresses off her, "There you are little girl!" She said as Natalie started giggling.

"Okay, I did what you asked, no overly poufy ones." Abby said, hanging up the dresses in the dressing room.

"Alright but if I hate them, I will not show them to you." Ziva said before she entered the dressing room.

"Nope. We get to see them all. Do not attempt to out-argue me! You will not win!" Abby said smugly.

Ziva frowned and went to put on the first dress. Luckily Abby knew her well so all the dresses were strapless and they all had a relatively small amount of lace and jewels on them. She put the first one on and walked out.

It was pretty, a little heavy on the beads but it was all right.

Abby frowned, "I think there's better, what about you Natalie?"

Natalie nodded her head in agreement.

"Next!" Abby said.

It went on like this for the next probably 15 dresses. They were all okay, but nothing really stuck out.

Finally Ziva pulled on an off-white dress, it was simple yet elegant, strapless of course, the fabric was layered all over the top half of the dress and it clung tightly to her body, then from just under her butt the dress had beautiful layers of ruffles, they were not poufy, they made the bottom of the dress flow perfectly down, there was practically no train, which Ziva loved, and the creamy off-white made her tanned skin practically glow.

She slowly opened the door of the dressing room and walked out.

Abby gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

Ziva was somewhat unsure of this reaction. "Is it all right?" She asked, timidly.

Abby finally got a grip and was able to answer. "All right? Ziva, all right is an understatement, a HUGE understatement. That dress is so stunningly beautiful, I want to marry you!"

Ziva laughed as she looked in the mirror, she did look good in the dress. In fact she looked better than good, she looked beautiful. She smiled thinking about how Tony would react to the dress, he would like it, it was very sexy and sophisticated but also had that classiness to it that reminded her of a Lauren Bacall movie.

"What do you think of it?" Abby asked.

"I think this is the one." Ziva said with a smile.

"You look SO pretty." Natalie said, admiring Ziva.

"Thank you my dear. Now how about we pick out a flower girl dress for you?" Ziva asked the little girl.

Natalie's face lit up. "Really? I get to be flower girl?!"

"Of course you do my dear! You are my flower girl and Abby, if she accepts that is, will be my Maid of Honor." Ziva said, turning her attention to Abby.

"Ohh Ziva of course I will!" She said as she jumped up to hug Ziva.

"I was thinking red for your dress. It will be classic but still romantic." Ziva said.

"Aww you are so sweet!" Abby said, hugging her friend once more.

Ziva took off the dress and handed it to the saleswoman who would keep it behind the counter while they looked for Abby and Natalie's dresses.

Abby quickly found one she liked. It was long and red with beautiful creamy gold lace around the middle, it had a halter neckline with smaller lines of the same golden lace and looked beautiful on the tall goth.

"Natalie," Ziva asked, "do you want a red dress like Abby's or do you want a cream one?"

"Can I have a red one?" Natalie asked.

"Of course my dear!" Ziva said, she then asked the saleswoman where the flower girl dresses were and she brought them over to a small section of the store.

There were several red dresses and a bunch more the saleswoman said could be ordered in red. They picked out a couple for Natalie to try on and she went in the dressing room, insisting that since she was a big girl, she did not need any help.

While Natalie was changing into her first dress, Ziva and Abby talked.

"You're great with her, you know?" Abby said.

Ziva smiled. "Thank you Abby. But, she is easy to get along with."

"Yeah, she's easy to get along with but not a lot of people really get her. She's an old soul and you see that. Plus she adores you, I'm glad you and Tony finally got your act together. For her sake especially, she needed a Mom." Abby said.

"Abby, did you ever meet her Mother?" Ziva asked.

"A few times, when she was born and then maybe five or six times after that. She was never really around. " Abby responded.

"I just do not understand it." Ziva said.

"Me either." Abby said, shaking her head.

Just then Natalie came out of the dressing room. "Ziva would you please zip this?" She asked.

Ziva bent down to help her and Natalie turned around.

"Ohh Munchkin, that is beautiful!" Abby exclaimed.

The dress was really quite lovely. It was floor length and had an empire waist with a gold band like Abby's dress. It was scrunched together at the top and had two golden ruffled straps. It was perfect.

"Do you like it?" Ziva asked her.

Natalie nodded her head vigorously.

Ziva laughed, "I love it too. How about you try a couple more on just to see and then we will go. Sound good?"

"Okay." Natalie said as she went back into the dressing room.

She tried on a couple more dresses until they decided that they were not going to find one that compared to the first dress. The girls bought their dresses and sent them off for alterations and made their way home. Ziva had driven them all since they were going to all have dinner with Tony later that night.

They got to Tony's and Ziva realized Natalie was asleep in the backseat. She carefully picked her up and carried her into the house.

"Hey!" Tony said, loudly, as the entered the house.

Abby put her finger to her lips signaling silence as Ziva carried Natalie through the door.

Tony made a quick 'I'm sorry' face and followed Abby, Ziva, and his sleeping daughter into her bedroom.

Ziva carefully laid Natalie on her bed, whispered something lightly in her ear, and kissed her softly on the forehead, before coming into the hallway to meet Tony and Abby.

"Long day, huh?" Tony asked as they made their way back into the living room.

"Yes, but she was quite the little grouper." Ziva said.

"That would be trooper, Sweet Cheeks." Tony said, smirking at her.

Ziva narrowed her eyes at him, which only made him laugh.

"Yeah she was the perfect little helper. " Abby added.

"That's good, I think I'll let her sleep until dinner. She could probably use a nap." Tony said.

"So that means I get some time to kick your butt at Wii before dinner!" Abby exclaimed excitedly.

"Hmm, strange, I thought we put the eight year old to sleep?" Tony said sarcastically, making Ziva laugh.

Abby stuck her tongue out at him, "Oh bring it on DiNozzo."

Ziva smiled, she was so grateful for her NCIS family, sometimes they were crazy and immature, but she would not trade them for anything.

A/N: There is a link to Ziva's wedding dress on my profile page, check it out! I think she would look amazing in it!

Also the link to Natalie's dress is there.

Abby's is like one I saw at a wedding I went to last winter; I do not have a picture. Sorry!

**REVIEW PLEASE :]**


	13. All Good Things

A/N: I apologize for not updating for so long, midterms killed me and by the time I got to Ireland I was just so over writing and I needed a brake. Since you all have been so patient I will post the next chapter tomorrow and I also posted a one-shot entitled "Love Soon" so PLEASE read that as well!

Read & Review for me!

Chapter 13

"All Good Things"

"I know it sounds a trifle odd/to those who've never had a dog/but I never had a closer friend than you."~Klaatu

Tony DiNozzo was woken up on Saturday morning to two green eyes, peering at him from the edge of the bed.

Natalie stared at him intently and said simply, "you promised."

Tony tiredly looked over at the clock, "Peanut, it's 0500. Why are you up so early? We can't leave until at least 0900."

Natalie made her best pouty face.

Tony pulled her up onto the bed and tousled her hair, making her laugh. "I'm sorry pretty girl but the animal shelter doesn't open until then, I can't help it!"

"Okay, fine. But you have to promise we can leave right then?" Natalie countered.

"Deal." Tony said, kissing her on the cheek.

Ziva stirred beside Tony. "Uh oh, I think we woke up Sleeping Beauty here." He said to Natalie.

Natalie giggled and climbed over Tony so that she was between him and Ziva. Ziva turned around and noticed the little girl.

She yawned slightly and then said, "Well, well, are we not an early riser this morning?"

Natalie smiled. "We are going to go get my puppy today!"

"That's right!" Ziva said, sitting up so she could pull Natalie into a hug, which Natalie happily reciprocated.

Natalie then made herself comfortable between Tony and Ziva.

Tony looked at her and laughed, she could be such a ham without even realizing it sometimes.

"You going back to bed there Peanut?" He asked.

Natalie responded, with her eyes closed, "Yes. Can you wake me up in time for pancakes before we go?" She asked, snuggling further into the pillow and blankets.

Tony and Ziva both laughed at that comment as Natalie quickly fell back asleep.

"Well, I guess we should try to get a little more sleep. I have a feeling this is going to be a long day." Tony said, looking over at Ziva.

"I agree." Ziva said with a slight yawn.

With that they snuggled down for a couple for hours of sleep.

At 0900 everyone was dressed, fed, and ready to go. Natalie, even more excited than usual, was bouncing around at the door waiting for her Dad to grab his keys so they could go.

"Daddy, come on!" She pleaded, looking at him with her big green eyes.

"Come on Peanut don't bring out the bribing face yet, we're going we're going!" Tony said, pushing her and Ziva out the door to his car.

They walked in the door of the animal shelter and Natalie squealed with excitement, bolting off in the direction of some larger dogs.

Tony groaned. "I knew she was going to want a big dog, I just knew it. I guarantee you that kid will pick out a dog that is twice the size of her. I might as well have promised her a horse." Tony said sarcastically.

Ziva laughed, "Come on, let us go help her."

Tony made a pitiful face as Ziva dragged him toward Natalie.

"Daddy look at all the dogs! They are so cute! Can I pick out any one I want?" Natalie asked, her eyes glowing with excitement.

Tony wanted to say no, he wanted to tell her that she should pick a smaller dog but he just could not resist the look on her face, he really was putty in her little hands.

"Yeah, Peanut, any dog you want." He said, pulling her into his side to give her a small hug.

Natalie smiled her brilliant smile and took off, studying the dogs carefully as she passed them.

Ziva turned to Tony, "All those years of charming women with that smile, you had it coming. Now it is pay up time."

"Pay back, sweet cheeks, pay back." He said, a pretend frown on his face.

Ziva laughed, "Whatever, it is still karma. You have used that smile on so many women, it is only fair that you yourself cannot resist it either." She said, grinning at him.

"Well, my smile did charm you." He said, flashing her an extra dazzling grin.

"That and other things, my little hairy butt." Ziva said, rather mischievously.

Tony leaned in to kiss her lightly on the lips when Natalie started calling for them.

They both turned to see her motioning toward her.

Natalie was standing in front of a beautiful black lab; the dog was average size with big watery brown eyes and a tail that would not stop wagging.

"Look Daddy! She likes me!" Natalie said excitedly as she petted the dog as best she could from the other side of its cage.

Seeing their interest in the dog, one of the workers came over to talk to them, her nametag said Kristin.

As she walked over to them Natalie asked her, "Does she have a name?"

Kristin kneeled down beside Natalie to answer her question, "No she doesn't. We just found her about a week ago. Someone left her tied to a tree with no food or water. She didn't have any tags or anything. We do know that she is about two years old and from what we can tell she seems like a big sweetheart.

"I really like her." Natalie said, looking hopefully at Tony.

He smiled. At least she hadn't picked a dog she could ride. "You want her, Peanut?" He asked.

Natalie nodded, "Yes please."

Kristin told Tony to go over to the front desk to fill out some papers and then turned to Natalie. "Do you want to play with her?"

"Yes please!" Natalie said, her eyes lighting up at the thought.

Kristin laughed. "Here, I'll get her leash and meet you right out there." She said, pointing towards a door.

Ziva and Natalie headed outside and a minute later Kristin walked out with the black lab on a leash.

Natalie squealed with excitement and clutched Ziva's hand as they walked over.

"Sit." Kristin said to the dog, and the dog sat right down.

"She is fairly well trained, she gets a little excited sometimes and jumps but she seems to be a very good natured dog." She said to Natalie and Ziva.

Natalie stepped forward, a little timidly at first and reached her hand out to pet the dog. Immediately the dog started licking her hand and Natalie pulled it back, but the dog only seemed to think that was a cue to lick Natalie's face. She planted slobbery licks all over Natalie's face, Ziva, a little uneasy, quickly pulled Natalie back only to see the little girl was laughing hysterically. Ziva immediately smiled at Natalie's happiness.

"I love her I love her!" Natalie exclaimed, hugging the dog, who proceeded to lick Natalie's ear.

"Would you like to play with her?" Kristin asked, handing her a tennis ball.

Natalie nodded and grabbed the ball and ran off to play with the dog, who happily chased after the ball and brought it back over and over again.

Meanwhile Ziva had a few questions for Kristin. "So, this dog has never bitten anyone?"

"Oh no. She's been a sweetie since the moment we found her. She seems to get along very well with the other dogs too. She seems to really like your daughter, I haven't seen her this excited since we brought her in.

Ziva smiled, Natalie's infectious laugh and generally happy air about her tended to float into anyone who was around her, apparently the same was true for animals.

Just then Tony came back out, he held up a leash and a collar above a bag of things, which were undoubtedly toys and supplies for the dog. "We officially have a dog." He said, a somewhat sarcastic smile on his face.

Natalie and the dog came up to where Tony was.

"Hey there puppy." Tony said reaching his hand out to pet the dog. "You are pretty cute." He said, and of course just then the dog licked his hand.

"Ohh, that was not cute." Tony said, while Ziva and Natalie laughed as he attempted to wipe off the slobber.

Ziva took the leash and put it on the dog, "Lets go!" She said and they all headed to Tony's car.

Tony thanked god that the seats in his precious 'Stang were leather so there was not going to be dog hair all over everything.

They got to the house and took the dog inside.

"So, Natalie," Ziva asked, "what are you going to name her?"

"Well, I want her to have a special name. Something like yours, a pretty name. What are some pretty Hebrew names?"

Ziva smiled, "Well thank you my dear. Uhh some pretty Hebrew names…you could call her Sarah, it means Princess." Ziva suggested.

"No, that's a pretty name but there's a girl in my class called Sarah. I want something pretty and different, like YOUR name." Natalie said, stroking the dog's soft fur as she sat next to her on the floor.

"Well, what about Lila or Aliza?" Ziva asked.

"Those are pretty, what do they mean?" Natalie asked.

"Lila means 'she is mine' and Aliza means 'cheerful'."

"Or Raya and Davinah are also pretty names."

"I like those! What do they mean?" Natalie asked.

"Well Raya means 'friend' and Davinah means 'cherished'.

"I think she looks like a Raya." Natalie said, looking at the dog.

"Raya." She said again, addressing the dog. "I think she likes it!"

Ziva laughed as the dog wagged her tail.

"Well Raya, welcome home." Ziva said petting the dog before getting up to walk into the kitchen where Tony was making lunch, therefore letting Natalie have some bonding time with her new puppy.

A/N: Lila, Aliza, and Davinah are all names of my cousins. Thought I would give them shout outs! Haha. Love you girls! And Raya was the name of my very first dog.

**REVIEW PLEASE!! :] **


	14. You Raise Me Up

I apologize that I am just now posting this. I seriously just got back to my house. A word of advice…do NOT double major and double minor and try to learn three languages at once. I have not even gotten to watch NCIS and I just want to pass out and not wake up until next week!

Chapter 14

"You Raise Me Up"

"When I am down, and oh my soul, so weary/when troubles come and my heart burdened be/then I am still and wait here in the silence/until you come and sit a while with me."

Disclaimer: (I really need to stop forgetting this…) I own a lot of stuff, unfortunately NCIS does not fall into that category.

A/N: Okay this is really random and I do not know if anyone used to watch or still watches JAG, but I was watching Season 2 DVD's and Catherine Bell has this awful boyish haircut and she STILL looks absolutely beautiful! Not fair! Then again, Cote de Pablo makes a ponytail look hot. Damn them! haha

Ziva opened her eyes quickly at the sound of Tony's bedroom door opening. She turned around and looked over to find a sobbing Natalie standing in the doorway, clutching her favorite stuffed dog. Ziva got out of bed carefully as not to wake Tony and walked over toward Natalie. She kneeled down in front of the little girl so that they were eye to eye.

"What is wrong my dear?" Ziva asked, concern evident in her voice as she carefully brushed the hair out of Natalie's face and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Mommy." Natalie stammered out, shaking from crying. "I had a bad dream." She finally blurted out

"Shhh, it is all right sweetheart. I have you now." Ziva said, pulling Natalie into her arms.

Natalie clung to her as if her life depended on it. "I don't want to go back to sleep." She said, her voice a little less shaky, a sign she had calmed down a bit.

"You need to get some sleep, my dear. How about we go into your room and get you all tucked in and comfortable?" Ziva asked.

Natalie nodded her head against Ziva's chest.

Ziva stood up and took Natalie's hand to lead her to her bedroom.

They walked into Natalie's room; Raya was still sleeping in her usual spot under Natalie's bed, apparently not roused by Natalie's movement.

"All right, let me fix up your bed." Ziva said as she began to fix Natalie's bed, which looked like it had been torn apart, probably the result of tossing and turning due to her nightmare.

Ziva fixed up the bed so that her sheets were straight. "Okay my dear." She said, patting the bed.

Natalie climbed underneath her covers and Ziva followed suit. Ziva propped herself against Natalie's headboard and Natalie curled right up into her side. Ziva stroked the little girls hair carefully and asked her, "Do you want to tell me about this dream?" She said, looking right down into Natalie's eyes.

Natalie nodded and sat up a bit, still making sure she was snuggled tightly into Ziva's side.

"I dreamed that you went away and then Daddy was so sad that he went back to the SeaHawk and I was all alone." She said, tears brimming her eyes again.

"Ohhh darling." Ziva said, clutching the little girl more tightly and kissing her, her heart broke thinking that she was part of the reason for Natalie's tears.

"Sweetheart I will never leave you, you know that."

"I know but my dream felt really real and I was so scared that you and Daddy were gone and I didn't want you go to because Daddy is finally happy and you are finally my Mommy and I was scared you got sick of me and left like my real Mom." Natalie said, her brilliant green eyes staring deep into Ziva's brown ones.

Ziva again felt a rush of anger at this woman who had abandoned her child, not matter how much she tried she just could not imagine any situation where she would ever even consider leaving Natalie.

She looked at Natalie and said, "I know it was a bad dream and I know those can be very real but I promise you, cross my heart, that I will never leave you. I am going to be here whether you want me or not, even when you are mad at me and do not want to even look at me, I will still be here for you. There is not anything you could do that would make me ever want to leave you or love you any less than I do right now."

Natalie's eyes seemed to brighten and her tears were beginning to dry. She hugged Ziva tightly and said, "Thank you. You're a really good Mom, you know?"

"It is only because I have the most precious little girl in the world." Ziva said.

Natalie smiled, "I like calling you Mommy."

Ziva smiled back, "That is good, because I like hearing it." She said as she slid them down under the covers.

Natalie readjusted so that they were cuddled together.

"Do you think you could sing me a song?" Natalie asked.

"Anything for you my darling." Ziva said, kissing the top of Natalie's head.

And so she started singing softly…

"The hills are alive with the sound of music

With songs they have sung for a thousand years

The hills fill me heart with the sound of music

My heart wants to sing every song it hears

My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds

that rise from the lake to the trees

My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies

from a church on a breeze

To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls

over stones on its way

To sing through the night like a lark who is learning to pray

I go to the hills when my heart is lonely

I know I will hear what I've heard before

My heart will be blessed with the sound of music

And I'll sing once more. "

By the time Ziva finished the song Natalie was fast asleep in her arms. Ziva smiled, she would just sleep here for the night to make sure Natalie did not have another bad dream. She closed her eyes, five years ago when she first came to NCIS she would have never guessed that pure happiness involved falling in love with her goofy partner and his lovely little girl, but she guessed that was the thing about happiness, sometimes it snuck up on you through doors you did not even know you left open. Back then she had been resigned to the idea that she would probably never have a family, now that she did, she could not imagine how she had ever lived without Tony and Natalie in her life. This, she thought, is what life is really about, loving someone and knowing that they love you back. With that Ziva smiled and fell into a deep slumber.

Tony woke up early the next morning disappointed that he was alone, confused he walked into the living room, Ziva was no where to be found but her running gear was still set out so she had to be in the house. Then he walked into Natalie's room, he opened the door and couldn't help but smile. There were his girls, snuggled together and sleeping soundly. He walked over to fix their covers, placed a kiss on each of their foreheads and went out to start breakfast.

**REVIEW PLEASE!!!!**

A/N: So I'm in a cheesy, nostalgic mood….in case you have not guessed. Hope you enjoy the fluff because the next few chapters will be definite fluff!

**Also, anyone catch The Sound of Music quote I used? I'll dedicate my next chapter to anyone who gets that answer right! **


	15. Long Journey Home

To everyone who got the found the quote; **charlienotcharlotte**, **HookEmHornsTX**, **Loretta the Contessa**, **Azilée**,** macadoodle3**, & **Ella Kelly** (I did improvise the quote a bit but that was because I did not think it sounded right with Natalie calling Ziva 'Mother')

Also I just had to thank **Moon Mage Goddess**, your comment made my day!

Also **Azilée**, Je suis toujours heureux de lire des commentaires dans d'autres langages ! Particulièrement français puisque je n'obtiens pas une chance de la parler très souvent! Il est difficile que je commute dans les deux sens parfois, parfois je me réveille et je peux seulement penser dans Hebrew! P.S. love your name!

A/N: I have a couple more chapters started but I will be in Turkey for the end of Passover and then in Greece for my Dad's wedding the week after so the next couple weeks are going to be hectic for me. I cannot promise anything but I will try to post as much as possible!

Also I am insanely irritated, my Dad and I flew down to New Orleans right after my last class yesterday morning to watch Notre Dame play and then they freaking sucked it up! I am so disappointed.

Chapter 15

"Long Journey Home"

"If on every ocean the ship is a throne/and for each mast cut down another sapling/then I could believe that I'm bound to find/a better life than I left behind."~Elvis Costello

Disclaimer: I own a lot of stuff, unfortunately NCIS does not fall into that category.

Ziva sat in her car, she was nervous, she was not sure exactly why she was nervous, but she was. She stared at the house, it was just Gibbs, she had talked to him plenty of times before; this was going to be no big deal.

She slowly moved to get out of the car and walked up to the door. She paused for a minute to catch her breath. This was not going to be difficult, Gibbs already had given them his blessing, there was no way he would turn down her request to walk her down the aisle.

She opened the door and made her way down the stairs to Gibbs basement.

"Gibbs?" She called out as she walked down.

"Hey Ziver." He replied, tools in his hands making it pretty obvious that he was starting another boat.

Ziva walked down the rest of the stairs and stood there silently, watching him work for a second.

Gibbs finally turned to look at her, "what's up?" He said in his calm Gibbs voice.

"Well, I actually had a question for you." Ziva said, somewhat cautiously.

Gibbs looked at her, the kind of look that said "All right" without words.

"Tony and I are getting married and we decided that it would be best not to tell Eli until the day of the wedding, I mean really I would just rather not tell him because as far as I am concerned he gave up the right to be in my life when he sent me on a suicide mission, but knowing him he would try to do something to stop the wedding or get me sent back to Israel or…." Ziva was rambling, Gibbs knew she was stalling.

"Ziva." He said softly, looking her straight in the eyes.

Ziva got the message, "Right, okay. I was wondering if you would give me away?" She asked, feeling very vulnerable at the moment.

Gibbs stayed silent for a moment and Ziva took that cue to add more to her already nervous rambling.

"I just thought that because you have been more like a father to me in the past four years than Eli has for my entire life and you have always done what was best for me even if I did not know that, I just thought you would want to." Ziva finished, sounding somewhat beaten.

Gibbs put down his tools and walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I would be honored to give you away." He said, placing a soft kiss on her temple.

Ziva smiled and immediate relief washed over her. "Thank you Gibbs."

"I'm really happy for you and Tony, Ziver."

"I am too." Ziva said, smiling

Gibbs went back to working on his new boat and Ziva took that as her cue to get going.

"Work tomorrow at 0500. Don't let DiNozzo make you late." Gibbs said as she started up the stairs.

Ziva let out a huge grin. "Do not worry, I keep him on his toes."

"That's what I'm counting on." Gibbs said, smiling back at her.

Ziva walked back to her car, a triumphant smile across her face. This felt right, Gibbs giving her away felt right. She thought she would care that Eli was not there, even though she didn't want to care, but it turned out that she thought she was going to be okay. She had her NCIS family and they were more of a family to her than Eli ever had been. Life was finally going in the right direction and she could not have been happier.

**Sorry this was SO freaking short, I just thought it kind of hit the point. The next chapter is a bit short too, but I already have the chapter after that started and believe me it is already a LOT longer! So REVIEW PLEASE!!**


	16. With A Little Help From My Friends

I apologize for not updating this in such a long time but my Zayde (this means Grandfather in Hebrew, actually that is a lie, technically it is Yiddish because Sada is Grandfather in Hebrew, I just always liked Zayde better…anyway….) he surprised me with a visit last week. He had not been to the states since my bat mitzvah so it was kind of a big deal. So finally I am updating this, I am warning you this will probably be the last update for another week because I will be in Turkey at the end of this week and then Greece next week for my Dad's wedding!!

Chapter 16

"With A Little Help From My Friends"

"What would you do if I sang out of tune/would you stand up and walk out on me?/Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song/and I'll try not to sing out of key/oh, I get by with a little help from my friends."~The Beatles

Tony walked up to McGee's front door, carrying a 6-pack of beer. Tony had surprised McGee earlier that day by asking if he would like to join him in watching the Ohio State game that night. McGee was somewhat surprised by Tony's invitation; he and Tony had not hung out as of late because of Tony's newfound romantic relationship with Ziva. But, they had gotten to be quite good friends over summer with Ziva's absence and Tony's failed attempts at getting over her. So, McGee had agreed to watch the game with Tony and suggested they watch the game at his apartment so they could have guy time since Ziva and Natalie would no doubt be at Tony's.

Tony knocked on the door, he felt a little nervous. 'Come on Tony', he thought, 'its just McGeek.' He planned on asking McGee to be his best man today, he felt bad because they had not been spending much time together lately but even though he and McGee had their moments, he knew he could always count on him as a friend.

McGee opened the door.

"Hey Tony." He said, opening the door to let him in.

"Hey McGnome. Time to stop the video gaming, it's basketball time!" Tony said as he walked into the apartment.

McGee rolled his eyes and laughed a bit as he shut the door.

Tony set the beer on the counter, pulled it out of the case and handed it to McGee.

McGee looked down at the beer, Tony had gotten his favorite.

"Thanks Tony." He said, opening the top and taking a refreshing gulp. "Pre-game is on right now. I've got some food if you are hungry."

"Thanks, McGee but I just had dinner. I gotta keep fit for the wedding." Tony replied.

"Yeah the big day is coming up." McGee said, heading over to the sofa to take a seat.

Tony followed him and made himself comfortable on a chair.

"No beer for you tonight?" McGee asked.

"Nah, it makes Ziva nervous when I drive even after I have a little alcohol." Tony said.

McGee smiled, "Who would have thought, the great Tony DiNozzo being tamed by a woman. I can honestly say I never thought it would have happened."

Tony opened his mouth to make a witty comeback but decided against it, because he realized that McGee was right. It was kind of a shocker for most of those who had known him. Instead he just smiled and said, "Yeah I guess it happens to the best of us."

The game started and they settled into the game, it was going great for Ohio State; they were winning by a considerable amount. Halftime came and McGee got up to grab another beer. When he sat back down Tony decided this would be the perfect moment to ask McGee to be his best man.

"So McGee," he started, "you know the wedding is soon and Abby is going to be Ziva's maid of honor and Gibbs is walking her down the aisle so I was thinking that you should be my best man."

McGee smiled, he knew this was as a close as Tony came to being sincere and really he was honored that Tony thought enough of him to ask him to be his best man.

"Of course I would Tony. Thank you." McGee responded.

"You gotta give a nice speech though, nothing embarrassing in it, got that?" Tony said.

McGee laughed, "No problem Tony, I think I can stick to something that won't be embarrassing. You know, I never said anything about this to you but I'm really happy for you and Ziva, you guys have been dancing around this relationship for so long. I'm glad you finally got your acts together."

Tony smiled, "You know everyone keeps saying that, I wish someone had told us this beforehand. It sure would have saved us some time." He said, laughing.

"Well it happened when you guys were ready. At least now you know what it's like without her. Maybe it was good to learn from it." McGee suggested.

"You're probably right, don't tell anyone I said that…" Tony said, his face dead serious.

McGee laughed, "All right Tony, games back on." He said, pointing to the tv.

The two watched the game until it ended.

Tony arrived home to find Ziva and Natalie in his bedroom, Ziva must have been reading to Natalie because she was sound asleep cuddled into Ziva's side. Tony then realized he was correct because Ziva still had the book in her hands and still seemed to be reading it.

"Chronicles of Narnia there Z? I didn't know you were a fan of fairytales." Tony joked.

Ziva scowled at him. "I was reading it to Natalie and she fell asleep but I was interested so I have been interpreting the story." She said, matter-of-factly.

"All right, all right." Tony said, falling into bed on Ziva's other side, curling up to her just like Natalie was.

"Oh look, somehow I ended up with two children." Ziva said sarcastically.

"I'm tired." Tony whined.

"Ohh my poor baby." Ziva said sarcastically as she stroked his hair. "How was McGee's?"

"Good. We had a good night, good game." Tony replied sleepily.

"Did you ask him?" Ziva asked.

"Yep. He's in." Tony said.

Ziva smiled, "Good. I am happy."

"Me too." Tony said, tilting up his head to kiss her softly on the lips.

Ziva smiled, she was finally, truly, content.

A/N: Funny story, we went to the rifle range Friday and while I was shooting my

Grandpa goes, "Obviously the perfect shot gene runs in the family, have you ever thought about joining Mossad?" I about died on the spot; like people don't tell me I remind them of Ziva enough without watching me shoot!

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!! THANKS :]


	17. Bless The Broken Road

A/N: I am home from Turkey & Greece but I am only home for two weeks before I go to Russia for 4 days to pick up my little sisters!! So I will try to post/write as much as possible before then! Anyway…..it is finally here! THE WEDDING! I literally had not written for a week and a half and then my Dad's wedding just inspired me! So for 8 hours on my plane I did nothing but write! Thankfully Lola took an ambien before we took off so she was literally sleeping the entire flight and I did not have any of her impromptu Kesha rock out sessions to deal with!

Disclaimer: I own a lot of stuff, unfortunately NCIS does not fall into that category.

Chapter 17

"Bless the Broken Road"

"I set out on a narrow way many years ago/hoping I would find true love along the broken road/but I got lost a time or two/wiped my brow and kept pushing through/I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you/every long lost dream led me to where you are/others who broke my heart they were like northern stars/pointing me on my way into your loving arms/this much I know is true/that god blessed the broken road/that led me straight to you."~Rascall Flatts

Ziva stood in her dressing room, staring at herself in the full body mirror. Her cream colored dress clung to her thin body giving the illusion of curves and her tanned skin looked perfectly bronzed against the dress. Her long black hair was lying in perfect waves over her shoulders with a section pinned up in a beautiful vintage pin Abby had found, behind her ear on the left side of her head. She had opted to leave her hair down and wavy because she knew that was how Tony preferred it.

Ziva heard noises coming from the next room that sounded like something falling and then the sound of Natalie's distinct laughter. Ziva smiled, Natalie was probably giving Abby a hard time while she tried to help the little girl put her dress on. But it was Abby's own fault; she had started feeding the child sugar as soon as she had woken up that morning. There was a knock at the door leading in from the hallway.

"Come in." Ziva said, still standing before the mirror as she adjusted the top part of her dress.

"Hey Ziver." Ziva heard as she looked up to find Gibbs standing in the doorway. He shut the door behind him and walked in.

Ziva turned around and smiled. "Gibbs." She said stepping down to hug him.

Gibbs brushed a lock of hair out of her face and kissed her forehead.

Ziva smiled, she liked feeling like someone's daughter for once instead of like some expendable commodity she had felt like with Eli.

"How you doing?" Gibbs asked her.

"Nervous." Ziva said, surprising herself with her candor.

Gibbs smiled, "Don't worry Ziver, this is a good thing." He said.

Ziva grinned back, "Even if we are breaking rule number 12?"

Gibbs laughed, "There is always an exception to the rule."

They were both silent for a comfortable second until Gibbs said, "I have something for you. I know Abby probably took care of the whole somethings old, new, borrowed, and blue but I have something old, if you would like to have it."

Gibbs reached into his pocket to pull out a black box, he opened it slowly to reveal a simple but beautiful necklace, it was silver with a beautiful pearl at the end and diamonds surrounding it artfully.

"It was my Mother's. She wore it at her wedding and Shannon wore it at our wedding." He said, taking the necklace out of the box.

Ziva could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. "It is lovely but I could not take it. It is part of your family."

"You, are my family." Gibbs whispered in her ear as he secured the necklace around her neck.

Ziva felt a tear escape from her eye as she turned around to hug Gibbs. She gripped him tightly and he gently stroked her hair like a little girl.

Ziva pulled back after a moment to wipe her eyes. Gibbs reached up to wipe them for her. "No tears now Ziver." He said, "You don't want your make-up to run for DiNozzo now do you?"

Ziva laughed and fixed her eye make-up. Just then Abby and Natalie walked into the room.

"I think this is my cue to leave." Gibbs said as he kissed each girl on the cheek before he made his way out of the room.

"You look like a princess!" Natalie squealed as she took in Ziva's appearance.

Ziva bent down to give the little girl a kiss on the cheek. "Why thank you my dear, I certainly do feel like a princess."

"Ziva you look beautiful." Abby said, "Is this from Gibbs?" She asked noticing Ziva's necklace.

Ziva smiled and nodded and Abby grinned and hugged her friend in response.

"It's time." Abby said as she pulled away from Ziva.

With that the girls made their way to the garden of the hotel where Tony and Ziva were to be married.

At the same time Tony and McGee took their places at the front next to the beautiful archway Tony and Ziva were to be married under. Tony looked around, it was a beautiful location, the gardens around them were blooming with early flowers and there was a perfect view of D.C. in the background, it was relatively warm for an early April day, Tony saw all the faces of those who cam to the wedding. They had decided to go small; the guests were Tony's family, his Ohio State buddies, some friends of Ziva's, and their co-workers from NCIS. Tony focused his attention to the aisle; he couldn't wait to watch Ziva walk down it.

Ziva, Abby, and Natalie made their way to the gardens. Gibbs was standing there, looking handsome in his suit, ready to walk Ziva down the aisle. He held his arm out for Ziva to grab onto. The music started and Natalie made her way down the aisle, dropping petals of beautiful red flowers that matched her red dress as she walked down the aisle.

Tony's face broke out in an immediate grin as his daughter made her way down the aisle, her long hair in large ringlets flowing down her back and pushed back by a ribbon therefore showing her perfect green eyes.

Natalie made her way to the end of the aisle but before she took her spot on the opposite side of Tony, she walked up to him, motioned for him to bend down and placed a kiss on his cheek.

There were sounds of "awws" heard all around the audience as Tony's heart swelled with happiness at his daughters action. He knew that was her way of giving her blessing and he could not have been happier to know that he was marrying someone who loved Natalie as much as he did.

Abby made her way down the aisle and Tony felt McGee tense up beside him. He leaned over and said quietly, "It's time to get your girl McGeek."

McGee smiled as he tried not to laugh at Tony's comment.

Then the wedding march started and the guests stood up and there was Ziva. Tony's eyes lit up when he saw her, she looked gorgeous, she moved down the aisle attached to Gibbs arm gracefully, her hair blowing beautifully in the slight breeze. He saw the smile on her face as she looked at him. He could not take his eyes off her.

She made her way to the archway, when they made it to the front Gibbs kissed her on the forehead and put her hand in Tony's. His eyes telling Tony what he wasn't voicing, 'hurt her and answer to me' Tony smiled back at Gibbs, and Gibbs, satisfied that his message was conveyed, smiled genuinely back at Tony and gave him a squeeze of reassurance on the shoulder before taking his seat.

Tony and Ziva turned to the minister and he started going through the ceremony, but Tony barely registered the words he said because he was so focused on Ziva, she looked absolutely stunning, he just could not believe that this wonderful woman had agreed to marry him, and he was shocked that he was actually finally committing and he was not afraid, in fact he could not have been more excited.

Finally it was time to say their vows, the minister announced that Tony and Ziva had written their own vows and would be reciting them.

Tony took in a large breath and started speaking, "Ziva, to say 'I love you' seems inadequate because I cannot imagine my life without you in it, you make me a better person every day, you choose to see past my quirks and annoying habits and you never gave up on me even when anyone else would have. Every day I wake up and see your inner and outer beauty, I fall a little more in love with you. I will be there for you every day of your life, in sickness, health, pain, happiness, even those days where we make each other crazy, I will never stop loving you until the day I die.

Ziva could feel the tears threatening at her eyes but willed them to stop, it was her turn, she started to speak, "I used to think you loved someone because they were the perfect person for you-and then I met you and I realized that I do not love you because you are perfect, I love you because you are you, you are crazy and romantic and you always know how to make me smile and sometimes you annoy me to no end but I love all of those parts of you so much because they are what make you who you are, they make you the man that I fell in love with. You made me believe that I was worth being loved and I cannot express how thankful I am that you never gave up on me. Whatever happens in our future whether it is good or bad, I want to share it with you."

Tony saw the tears running down Ziva's cheeks and let his own tears fall, they weren't tears of sadness; they were tears of pure happiness.

"Do you, Anthony, take Ziva to be your wife?" The minister asked.

"I do." Tony said, a huge smile shining brightly on his face.

"Do you, Ziva, take Anthony to be your husband." He asked Ziva.

"I do." She replied, the smile on her face matching Tony's.

The minister then asked for the rings, "Place the ring on the bride's finger and say 'with this ring, I thee wed'.

Tony took the ring, placed it on Ziva's dainty finger and said, "With this ring, I thee wed."

He turned to Ziva and repeated his words. She took Tony's and placed the ring on his finger saying "With this ring, I thee wed."

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

At first the kiss was soft and passionate until Tony took Ziva in his arms and dipped her down, kissing her more passionately. Tony and Ziva could not even hear the cheers of the audience they were so focused on each other. When they finally came up for air they walked down the aisle and straight into Ziva's dressing room to get ready for the reception.

Tony closed the door as they walked in, since the reception was also at the hotel they had some time to kill before making their entrance into the ballroom where it was to be held. He turned around to look at Ziva who had plopped down on the sofa across from him, she looked at him and smiled while beckoning him over to her. He came without hesitation and sat next to her body, which was sprawled out on the sofa, and leaned over to kiss her on the lips.

Ziva leaned up slightly to meet him halfway and they kissed passionately, Ziva's hands running through Tony's hair. His hands were not idle either; he ran them down her body and over her bare muscular shoulders.

He pulled away reluctantly and said "Mrs. DiNozzo if you keep this up we will not be making it to the reception any time soon."

Ziva had a devilish grin on her face, "would that be so terrible?" She said seductively as she pulled him back down to her.

Right as things were heating up there was a knock at the door, and then a very overly excited eight year old, who also happened to be hopped up on sugar, burst into the room. Tony quickly adjusted himself into a less compromising position.

"Hey Peanut." He said as Natalie jumped into his arms, hugging him and then hugging Ziva who had managed to sit up.

Abby and McGee walked through the door, "Hey guys, sorry she was just really excited to see you two."

"Tony and I were just uhh…freshening up. It is no big deal, plus I wanted to hug my daughter anyway." Ziva said, smiling down at Natalie.

"Okay well we should get to the reception to make our entrances!" Abby said excitedly as she hurried out the door, McGee close at her tail, of course Natalie wanted to see what the fuss was about so she made her way over too.

"I guess we should actually freshen up before we go over." Tony said, standing up to straighten his tie and suit.

Ziva sighed but nodded her head in agreement and sat up to adjust her dress and fix her make-up.

Five minutes later the couple made their way to the entrance of the ballroom where Abby, McGee, Gibbs, and Natalie were standing waiting for their cues to enter. Right as Ziva and Tony walked up Abby gave the DJ the cue to start announcing the wedding party.

First were Natalie and Gibbs. "Father of the bride, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and daughter of the groom, Natalie Rose DiNozzo." Said the DJ.

The two walked out and to their seats, Gibbs paused before they sat down so that he could twirl Natalie like a salsa dancer, which made her laugh and made their entrance quite adorable.

Next was Abby and McGee. "Next we have the Maid of Honor, Abigail Sciuto, and the Best Man, Timothy McGee."

Abby and McGee entered, Abby surprised McGee by kissing his cheek before they sat down.

"And introducing for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Anthony DiNozzo."

Tony and Ziva walked into the room, Ziva's arm hooked to Tony's. Tony surprised her by dipping her and kissing her in front of everyone, to which the response was much clapping and "aww"ing.

The couple sat down at their table and they got ready for dinner.

Just as dinner was served Abby stood up. "Since I am the Maid of Honor I figured I should give a toast." Abby said, clearing her throat she continued. "I have known Ziva for almost 5 years and I have to admit I didn't like her at the beginning, to me she was just a replacement for the friend I had lost. But, I got to know her and I found out that I couldn't ask for a better friend, Ziva is the kind of person who never leaves her friends behind, she's always got your back and I am proud to stand up here today and say that she is my best friend. Ziva, I can't thoroughly express how happy I am that you are in my life. " Abby said, smiling at Ziva who reciprocated the smile.

"And Tony, oh Tony, I have known him for 9 years. He is one of the greatest guys I know, he has always been there for me, he even listens to me when I need to vent about guys. Although many people may not see it, Tony DiNozzo has a heart of gold and I'm glad he's on my side because he fights for what he loves, a quality lost on a lot of guys these days." Abby said, seeing the smile on Tony's face she continued. "You two are both my best friends and I am so incredibly happy you found each other. It might have taken you 5 years to get over your stubbornness and realize you were in love, but better late then never." Abby finished her speech to a round of applause and handed the microphone off to McGee.

McGee stood up and started to speak, "Today I am proud to stand up here as Tony's best man, but this day is even more special for me than just if my best friend were getting married because two of my best friends got married today and I think it's pretty amazing when you find love with one of your best friends. Like Abby, I have known Tony and Ziva for 9 and 5 years respectively, I have seen them in all kinds of situations and I can say without a doubt that these are two people I am happy to know have my back. I just wanted to say that I am so happy for you guys and you deserve all the best." McGee finished his speech and sat down to a round of applause.

Dinner was then served, everyone enjoyed the meal but of course they all could not wait for cake time. When dinner was over the cake was rolled out, it was a large 3 tiered wedding cake, one of the only things Ziva had insisted one since she had always wanted one since she was a girl, the couple cut the cake together and as you can expect managed to get cake all over each others faces, it was blatantly obvious to everyone in attendance that these two were clearly in love.

After desert it was time for dancing, "I would like to invite the bride and groom to the dance floor for the first dance as husband and wife." The DJ said, beckoning Tony and Ziva to come to the dance floor.

The couple made their way to the floor and the song Tony had chosen for them started playing. Ziva had let Tony pick the song they were going to dance to and she had to admit she was a little nervous about what his pick would be, she figured something from Frank Sinatra because he was Tony's favorite and she was perfectly fine with that, she loved Frank Sinatra as well. But as she began to think more about it she began to fret that Tony would choose some cheesy Elvis ballad or screechy Bruce Springsteen song. So, when she stepped on the dance floor and heard the song of choice, she was not only pleasantly surprised, she was moved.

The song started off "I set out on a narrow way many years ago/hoping I would find true love along the broken road/but I got lost a time or two/wiped my brow and kept pushing through/I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you/every long lost dream led me to where you are/others who broke my heart they were like northern stars/pointing me on my way into your loving arms/this much I know is true/that god blessed the broken road/that led me straight to you…."

Ziva could feel the tears in her eyes again and Tony noticed this.

"Z, you all right?" He asked, looking concerned.

"Yes, I am perfect. I just cannot believe you remembered how much I like this song." She said, smiling up at him.

"Of course I remember Ziva, how could I forget? You used to love this song and every time I heard it I couldn't help thinking that it was going to be us someday. So I thought it would be the perfect song for our first dance as a couple." Tony said.

"It is perfect. Thank you Tony. You are truly wonderful." Ziva said.

"Right back at you Sweet Cheeks." Tony said, grinning at her.

With that they danced to their song that at that moment felt like it was written just for them.

The songs came and went until it was time for the Father/Daughter dance.

Gibbs came up to Tony and tapped his shoulder, "May I cut in?" He asked.

Tony smiled, "Only you, Gibbs."

Gibbs laughed and took Ziva's hand. Another song started playing, "Slow down, you crazy child/you're so ambitious for a juvenile/but then if you're so smart, tell me/why are you still so afraid?/where's the fire, what's the hurry about?/you better cool it off before you burn it out/you've got so much to do and/only so many hours in a day/but you know that when the truth is told/that you can get what you want or you can just get old/you're gonna kick off before you even/get halfway through/when will you realize, Vienna waits for you?...."

Ziva and Gibbs danced to the song in silence, this was what Ziva liked about Gibbs, he could convey feelings without actually saying anything but Ziva knew that he truly cared about her and he was truly happy for her. She liked having a father figure who was there when she needed to talk but also understood when she just needed silent reassurance.

At the same time Ziva and Gibbs were dancing together, Tony was dancing with Natalie. They had started off dancing how Natalie loved to dance with Natalie on Tony's feet as he carried them around the room and then Tony, sensing Natalie needed to feel a little bit more connected with her Dad, picked her up so she was in his arms and they were face to face.

Natalie smiled at him, "Are you happy Daddy?"

Tony kissed her cheek, "I am Peanut. Are you?"

"Yes. Very happy."

Tony held her close as they kept dancing.

When the song was over Gibbs and Natalie took a break while Tony and Ziva stayed on the dance floor, the night went on and people started to leave. Natalie finally came crashing down from her sugar high and passed out on Gibbs shoulder. Tony and Ziva decided they should get going; after all they had an early morning flight to catch.

Tony woke Natalie up carefully, "Hey Peanut you gotta say goodbye to your Daddy and Mommy." He said, brushing the hair back from her face, her headband must have fallen out sometime during all the dancing she had done.

Natalie nodded her head sleepily and hugged Tony. The two did their customary goodnight while Ziva said goodnight to Gibbs and then they switched.

"Night Mommy, see you in a few days." Natalie said as she hugged Ziva.

"Goodbye my sweet girl, be good for Gibbs." Ziva said, kissing Natalie on the forehead before handing her off to Gibbs.

"Thanks for taking Natalie and Raya, Boss. We really appreciate it." Tony said to Gibbs.

"I'm always happy to spend time with my Goddaughter, DiNozzo. And as long as the dog stays away from my shoes we'll get along just fine. You two have a good honeymoon." Gibbs said.

Tony and Ziva made their way up to their honeymoon suite and Gibbs and Natalie left. Thankfully McGee and Abby were staying to make sure everything that needed to be packed away was taken care of.

Tony and Ziva got to the door of their suite and Tony opened it but before they could go in Tony stopped her.

"Hold it, Mrs. DiNozzo, I have to carry you across the threshold." He said, complete seriousness in his voice.

Ziva laughed, even though she knew he was not joking.

Tony then surprised her by sweeping her off her feet, which only made her laugh harder.

He carried her into the beautiful suite and laid her down on the bed.

Tony looked into Ziva's eyes and said, "Thank you, for making me the luckiest man in the world."

Ziva sat up so she was at a better angle to kiss him, but when her lips were just touching his she responded with "If you think you are lucky now then I think you are about to get even luckier." She said, seductively.

Tony carefully pushed her back down on the bed and they started what was to be an incredibly steamy first night of their honeymoon.

A/N: I did not include any Jewish wedding traditions like the chuppah or the sheva brocha, because well Tony is not Jewish and because Ziva is starting a new life in the states it just did not make much sense, so this wedding was non-denominational I would say….like a civil service or whatever you call it when you just get married by the state or whatever. I actually do not even know if I got the wedding sequence of events right because my Dad's wedding was first of all, in Arabic, and second of all, the ceremony was a little different because of Maia's religion.

**Hit the REVIEW button and tell me what you think! Even if it is just a thumbs up or a thumbs down I want to know!! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!! PLEASE & THANK YOU :] (If I get 10 I will post the next chapter Wednesday for sure, possibly Tuesday if I have time!)**


	18. Right Here, Right Now

A/N: I apologize, this chapter was supposed to be posted a while ago. I ended up spilling water all over my computer and just got it back yesterday. Also, do not expect another chapter too quickly as I broke my arm and cannot type fast. Also, I am quite busy with my little sisters! They are a lot to keep up with and I am trying hard to help them adjust to life in New York City! Plus I have finals…yuck :/

Disclaimer: I own a lot of stuff, unfortunately NCIS does not fall into that category.

But seriously, if whoever owns NCIS is ever willing to sell it, it will be mine. Mine, mine, mine. And Tony and Ziva will have a wonderfully dysfunctional romantic relationship but it will not be the center of the show. Please let me buy it? Pretty please? I would let them be happy!

Chapter 18

"Right Here, Right Now"

"Right here, right now/I'm looking at you/and my heart loves the view/'cause you mean everything."~High School Musical 3

Wednesday morning, Tony and Ziva arrived in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. They had opted for a short 5 day honeymoon in order to have enough time off to take Natalie on a surprise visit to Disney World in the summertime. They were eager to enjoy their first week as a married couple.

Their first day in Charleston was spent like most honeymooners spend the first day of their honeymoon, in their room.

The second day, although much like the first, they decided to venture out for their meals and for a short shopping trip that was cut short when Ziva decided to model a dress for Tony, which had them hurrying back to their room.

By the third day they figured they should take advantage of the beautiful weather.

The newlyweds made their way to the hotels private beach; it was perfect because it was not prime time for tourists so the beach was relatively quiet.

"Ahh nothing like some good relaxing time at the beach." Tony said as he laid his towel down on the sand and laid down.

"Do not tell me you are going to take a nap." Ziva said, crossing her arms and giving him a look of annoyance.

"That's what you are supposed to do on a beach! And hey you were the one who just wanted to read at the pool when we were in LA, I think I am allowed to nap!" Tony said, closing his eyes.

Ziva hit him with her towel.

"Oww!" He yelped as he sat up.

"Tony, I want to do something fun." Ziva said.

"All right, all right." Tony conceded. "What did you have in mind?"

Ziva's eyes twinkled as she looked out to the ocean, just as a couple on wave runners rode by.

"Oh god." Tony said, as he realized what she meant.

Twenty minutes later Tony and Ziva were each seated on a wave runner. The look on Ziva's face that of pure delight, while the look on Tony's looked more like he was going to be sick.

They were told to only go 15 miles per hour until they got past a cone in the harbor signaling they could increase their speed.

They passed the cone, Ziva quickly increased her speed while Tony stuck with his 15 miles per hour.

Ziva turned around to look for Tony, he was far behind her, so she decided to circle back and make him catch up.

"Tony, what are you doing?" She said as she reached him.

"Just enjoying the ocean." He said smugly.

"Come on, let's race!" Ziva said, excitedly.

Tony groaned, "Come on Z, I like going slow."

Ziva flashed him a wicked smile, "Really, that's not a word I would use to describe anything you do." She said as she hit the gas and flew by him.

Tony laughed and decided he could not be taunted like that; he hit the gas and attempted to catch up to her.

Ziva laughed as she looked behind her and saw that Tony fell for her taunting, she turned the wave runner to the right so that she could circle him and try to get him soaked.

Tony saw her turning around and knew she was going to try to pull something so he turned left. He looked back and saw her following behind him.

They played this cat and mouse game until Ziva finally out maneuvered him, he turned his wave runner and Ziva zoomed right by him, her intent just to splash him, but the force of the wave runner and water propelled Tony's wave runner to tilt which threw Tony off it and into the water.

Ziva turned around and drove up next to him, laughing.

Tony, still in the water, said "Well thank you wife, for trying to kill me on our honeymoon!" His voice thick with sarcasm.

Ziva could not stop laughing, "Stop being such a drama queen, you are fine and all I tried to do was splash you! It is your own fault you ended up in the water because you tried to escape!"

"All right, all right. Just help me out of the water." Tony said, reaching for her hand.

Ziva took his hand but before she could pull him up, he pulled her into the water.

Ziva gasped as she hit the water. "Tony!"

All Tony did was laugh, "Payback's a bitch sweet cheeks!"

Ziva could not help but start laughing herself.

At the same time back in Washington, Gibbs and Natalie were hard at work in Gibbs basement. Although, the activities were not exactly woodworking.

Gibbs had cleaned all his tools off his worktable and laid out a giant piece of paper so Natalie could finger paint.

Gibbs didn't know how she did it but somehow she had managed to convince him to finger paint with her. The two were situated by the table, each drawing and sometimes playing games while Raya laid quietly on the floor next to them.

They started playing a game of tic-tac-toe.

"Your turn munchkin." Gibbs said as he made his O in the board.

Natalie dipped her hand in the tray of paint, a little too forcefully which launched the tray up and sent paint splattering all over Gibbs.

He sat there in silence for a minute, green and blue paint all over his head and his shirt.

Then Natalie started to giggle.

"Ohh, you think that's funny?"Gibbs said, almost laughing himself.

Natalie nodded, unable to form words she was laughing so hard.

"Well, lets see how you like it." Gibbs said as he dipped his finger in red paint and dabbed it on Natalie's nose, which only made her laugh harder.

Raya, roused by the excitement, decided she wanted in on the action and jumped up, her paws landing on the table and right in the purple paint.

Gibbs and Natalie both could not contain the laughter anymore as Raya paced around the table, leaving purple footprints behind her.

Natalie then took this opportunity to put a big blue handprint on Gibbs shirt.

"Ohh you are dead, munchkin!" Gibbs said.

"You have to catch me first!" Natalie squealed as she ran upstairs.

Gibbs decided to play along, after all he never really let himself be carefree, and went up the stairs to get her, thankfully the paint on Raya's paws had dried/worn off so she didn't get paint all over the carpet. Gibbs found Natalie and quickly scooped her up, giving her a nice red paint handprint on her cheek.

Suddenly the doorbell rang, Gibbs, with Natalie still swung over his shoulder laughing, went to answer it.

"All right I'm gonna get this door and then you are off to the showers." Gibbs said.

"Awww." Natalie pouted.

"Nope, no pouting no ice cream."

Gibbs opened up the door to find McGee standing there, slightly shocked by his bosses new paint splattered look.

"Yes, McGee?" Gibbs said.

"McGee!!" Natalie squealed as she reached out to give him a hug, but Gibbs pulled her back quickly.

"Natalie, paint." He said, as if she had forgotten the paint all over her.

"Ooops!" She said with a giggle. "Hi McGee, we had a paint fight!"

"Uhh I can see that." McGee said, with a stutter. Knowing Gibbs was probably not to happy about him catching Gibbs in a rare moment where his guard was down.

"Uhh just dropping off these files for you to look over. Have a good rest of the weekend boss." McGee said.

Gibbs nodded and Natalie responded, "Bye McGee!"

"Bye Natalie." He said, waving to the little girl and turning around with a smile on his face. He was glad that his boss let himself have a little fun once in a while."

A/N: Anyone think the previews for Tuesdays episode were misleading? I hope next weeks is better, although I already hate the idea of Tony fixating on a woman who is not Ziva. I also hope CBS decided to pay them more money, the show will not survive without a single one of them, it is an ensemble. The characters as a whole make the show. It's like when they did not extend David James Elliott's contract on JAG, everyone stopped watching and the show was canceled. Don't people learn from their mistakes anymore?

**And as always…REVIEW PLEASE!!! **


	19. Here Comes The Sun

A/N: So this storyline I got from Army Wives Season 1 when Trevor wants to adopt Roxy's kids, I thought it was a cute idea and would be an interesting thing for the DiNozzo clan to deal with. I know I said I wasn't going to post for a while, but this idea just came to me and I had to go with it!

Chapter 19~Here Comes The Sun

"Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter/little darling, it feels like years since it's been here/here comes the sun, here comes the sun/and I say it's all right."~The Beatles

Disclaimer: I own a lot of stuff, unfortunately NCIS does not fall into that category.

Tony and Ziva had been back from their honeymoon for a week , they had settled into their new lifestyle and finally moved all of Ziva's things to Tony's in addition to putting her place on the market.

It had been a relatively quiet night at the DiNozzo house, they had dinner, watched a movie, and Natalie had gone to bed since she had school the next day.

Ziva and Tony were watching the news together on the sofa when Ziva said, "Tony, I was thinking that since we are married now I could officially adopt Natalie, you know officially become her mother."

"You're already her mom. You don't need a piece of paper to tell you that." Tony responded.

"Yes, but I think it would be more meaningful if we put it on paper." Ziva said, sitting up so she could face Tony.

"Ziva, she's eight. She's been calling you Mom since before we got married, she doesn't even know you have to sign a piece of paper to become her mother."

Ziva looked him squarely in the eyes. "You do not want me to file adoption papers. You think I am going to leave again." She said, her voice quiet with hurt.

"No!" Tony said, "That's not it at all! Z, I don't think you are going to leave again. That's ridiculous. I wouldn't have married you if I thought you would leave again, I wouldn't have let you into Natalie's life if I had any doubts that you were here to stay. Come on Ziva, what's the big deal with the papers?"

"You say that, but why do I feel otherwise?" Ziva said, her voice shaking.

Tony just sat there, he didn't know what to say. Honestly he didn't know why he was so hesitant about filing the adoption papers.

"I am going to bed." Ziva said, as she left the room, and left Tony sitting there on the sofa by himself.

He sat there for a little while and then he got up, he needed to figure this out. He got in his car and he drove. Finally he found himself stopped at a familiar place. He got out of his car and went up to the door, knocking softly on it.

A few minutes later a familiar face opened the door.

"Hey Boss." Tony said.

"DiNozzo." Gibbs said, sensing there was something wrong, he ushered him into the house.

The men sat down, silently for a few minutes until Gibbs said, "Out with it DiNozzo."

Tony took a deep breath and said, "I think I messed up, Boss. Ziva brought up officially adopting Natalie and I said it wasn't necessary and she accused me of not wanting to file the papers because I think she's going to leave again and I said that wasn't it, but honestly I just don't know why I'm hesitant about it."

"Because you love Natalie more." Gibbs said.

"No, Boss I love Ziva and Natalie in completely different ways but equally in those ways." Tony said.

Gibbs took a deep breath and started talking, "No, you don't. And it's okay. That's how it's supposed to be. Natalie is your daughter and from the moment she entered this world, she was yours. You raised her, you loved her, and you did it because you were all each other had. She's your flesh and blood and what you do doesn't just affect you, it affects her. Every choice you make, you make with her in mind because you're her father, and you put her happiness before your own because you're a good father. Being hesitant about letting Ziva adopt her isn't your fear that she will leave again, it's because Natalie has been just yours for her whole life and letting Ziva file those papers means you're not the only one who is responsible for her anymore. It's a big deal Tony, but I think you know that Ziva would never intentionally hurt Natalie. I know you think the papers aren't a big deal now, but Ziva does. Natalie doesn't right now, but someday she will. Someday knowing Ziva cared enough about her to not just act like her mother, but take on the full responsibility of being her mother, will mean a lot to Natalie. And it will mean a lot to you too."

"Wow Boss, I think that's the most I've heard you say at once." Tony said, trying to lighten the mood.

Gibbs smiled. "Yeah. Go home to your family DiNozzo."

"Thanks Boss." Tony said as he got up and headed for the door.

He arrived home a little later and quietly made his way into his bedroom where Ziva was sound asleep.

Silently, he got ready for bed. He climbed in and kissed a sleeping Ziva lightly on the forehead and whispered, "I'm sorry Z, I love you."

The next morning Tony woke up to find he was alone. Disappointed, he looked over to find a note on the nightstand.

_Tony, _

_I went to the gym this morning and decided to head straight to work._

_Ziva_

He sighed; she was definitely still upset about last night. He had to do something to make this right.

He got himself and Natalie ready, took her to school and then headed to work, but before he got there he had a quick errand to run.

Ziva looked at her watch, Tony was uncharacteristically late, well later than average at least. She was still mad at him, but that did not stop her from worrying.

Finally he walked into the bullpen, Ziva put her head down, she did not want to seem like she had been waiting for him.

Tony headed straight for her desk. "Ziva, I need to talk to you."

"Not here, not now." Ziva hissed at him.

"Yes, now. Come with me. Please." His eyes begged with her.

Ziva sighed and put down her work, and followed him into the break room, which thankfully was empty.

Ziva crossed her arms across her chest and looked at Tony, waiting for him to begin.

"Okay, Z I know I messed up. And I talked with Gibbs about this and I figured some stuff out. Natalie has been just mine for her whole life, I've never had to share her with anyone, she has been my sole responsibility for so long that it's hard to think about sharing her. But, I know you love her and I know it would mean a lot to you and to her if we make this official. And the more I thought about it I realized it would mean a lot to me to, because not only did I realize how much you love Natalie but I realized how much you love me. You understand that Natalie is the most important part of my life and you want to make her the most important part of yours too. And that means the world to me." He then held up the file in his hand for Ziva to take. "These are the papers, I have already signed everywhere I need to, now you do too."

Ziva looked at him, a huge smile formed on her face. She took the file in her hand and stepped closer as he pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you, Tony. I love you."

"I love you too, Sweet Cheeks."

A/N: I hope you guys are excited for the next chapter, I'm going to try to get it up ASAP because I have a great idea forming in my head. I'll give you a hint…get ready to meet Natalie's birthmother! Ahh!! Ohh the drama that will ensue!!! As always….review please! This took me forever to type because of my broken wrist but the idea came to me and I just had to write it down. So REVIEW!!!


	20. Landslide

I want to dedicate this chapter to **ncistwin2** because I keep missing her on AIM! Hope we can talk soon girl!

Chapter 20~Landslide

"I took my love and I took it down/I climbed a mountain and I turned around/and I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills/the landslide brought it down/oh mirror in the sky, what is love?/can the child within my heart rise above?/can I sail through the changing ocean tides/can I handle the seasons of my life?"~Stevie Nicks

A/N: Can you guys handle meeting Natalie's birthmother?!?!? haha I hope you guys like this chapter because I really do, I had fun writing a little more dramatic and a little less fluffy so we'll see where that takes me!!

Tony and Ziva sat in the bullpen working; well at least Ziva was working. Tony was distracted. It had been more than a week since they had sent the adoption papers, by same-day mail, to Natalie's birthmother for her to sign. Tony hadn't wanted to but a judge informed them it would be a lot messier if they did not get her consent and Tony did not want to put Natalie through any unnecessary drama. He was attempting to start some paperwork when a familiar brunette stepped off the elevator. Tony stiffened in his chair, a frown appearing on his face as he looked at the woman. Ziva, noticing his change in demeanor looked around and saw the woman. She immediately understood, this was Natalie's birthmother.

The woman walked over to Tony with a smile plastered on her face.

"Tony." She said happily.

Ziva noticed how tense Tony looked, he seemed like he was going to explode with anger.

"What are you doing here, Hannah?" Tony asked coldly. Ziva could tell he was trying not to raise his voice.

"I just wanted to talk." She said, rather flirty.

"What could you possibly want to talk about?" Tony said, standing up.

"Is there someplace private we can go?" Hannah asked, looking around at the people in the bullpen.

"Fine." Tony said, he wasn't sure if he was glad Gibbs was not here so he wouldn't get yelled at or if he wished Gibbs was here so that he would yell at Hannah.

Tony pointed down the hallway and motioned for Hannah to walk first before he turned around, begging Ziva with his eyes to come with.

They got to the break room; Hannah turned around and saw Ziva was there as well.

"This is a private conversation, if you don't mind." She said with a smirk.

"Yes. It is a private conversation Hannah. One that she is very much a part of." Tony said curtly, taking Ziva's hand in his own.

"Oh, You must be Ziva David." Hannah said.

"It is Dahh-veed." Ziva replied.

"Right." Hannah said. "So you're the one to tame Tony DiNozzo. I never thought I'd see the day."

"Hannah, what are you here for?" Tony said. Ziva could tell he was trying his hardest not to raise his voice.

Hannah handed him the file.

"I would have preferred it if you mailed them to me." Tony said.

"I didn't sign them." Hannah said, flatly.

Tony looked furious now, "Excuse me?"

"I am her mother, I have been thinking about her lately and I realized when I got these papers that I want to be a part of her life." She said.

"No." Tony said. "Absolutely not. You will go nowhere near my daughter."

"She is my daughter too, and I deserve to get a chance with her." Hannah said.

"You want a chance with her? You left her, you didn't want her, and you thought your life was better without her. I refuse to put her through any more pain because of you. If you go anywhere near her, I'll file a restraining order." Tony said, getting more and more heated as he spoke.

Hannah laughed, "You can't keep me away from my own daughter."

"Natalie is NOT your daughter. She has a mother, one who cares about her and loves her enough to want to be there for her in every possible way. You abandoned her, and I will do everything in my power to make sure you never see her again." Tony said, his grip tightening on Ziva's hand, he looked absolutely livid.

"I can see this is not the best time to talk about this. I'll be in touch." Hannah said, as she walked out of the room.

Tony sat down in one of the chairs in the break room. Ziva walked up behind him, putting her arms around his shoulders.

Tony reached up to grab her hands, he looked visibly upset.

"Ziva, I can't let her get near Natalie. I refuse to let her cause my little girl more pain than she already has."

"I know my love, I know." Ziva said, just knowing that he needed reassurance.

When Tony and Ziva made their way back to the bullpen, they were on a mission. Tony picked up the phone, he was calling Natalie's school, the director of her after school program, and Natalie's little friend Paige's mother who drove her home and took care of her every so often when Tony was working late. He told each of them Hannah's name and gave her description stating that under no circumstances was Natalie to be anywhere near a woman who resembled that description.

While Tony did this, Ziva went down to Abby's lab and explained the situation to her. Abby seemed furious. She and Gibbs had been the only ones to ever meet Hannah and Abby didn't exactly hide her dislike for the woman.

"She thinks she can come back into Natalie's life after six years and just decide to be her mother again? Ohh hell no, that bitch will have to go through me first and even if she could get through me she'd have to go through you as well and I'm pretty sure you could take her down with one punch." Abby said, pacing back and forth, looking obviously upset.

Ziva let out a nervous laugh, she was glad Abby seemed as mad as Tony was and as mad as she felt.

"Tony doesn't want her getting anywhere near Natalie." Ziva said.

"And with good reason. That woman permanently scarred that little girl. She doesn't deserve a second chance." Abby replied.

"Right, so Tony is calling her school, after school program, and Paige's mother so they know to not let Hannah anywhere near Natalie. But, we think she is going to try to come to our place and see Natalie so we were wondering if Natalie could stay at your house tonight?" Ziva asked.

"Of course she can." Abby said, "Ohh wait, Hannah knows where I live. She dropped Natalie off there a couple times, when she decided going out was more important than being a mother." Abby said, disdain evident in her voice. "Maybe it would be better to take her to Gibbs. Even if Hannah managed to find Natalie there Gibbs would have absolutely not problem shooting her if she tried to get anywhere near Natalie."

Ziva smiled, "You're probably right. I will ask him."

"But, I can pick her up from school, maybe it's better that she doesn't go to her program today? I could just take her straight to Gibbs and I could stay with her there until he comes home?" Abby offered.

"That would be very helpful. Thank you Abby." Ziva said.

Abby, sensing her friend needed a hug, pulled Ziva into one of her famous bone-crushing hugs.

Back in the bullpen, Tony had let Paige's mother and the school know that Natalie would be leaving school right as it ended and to keep her in the office until Abby came in to pick her up.

Gibbs had been in MTAC for the last hour, Ziva waited patiently until she saw him emerge. She quickly made her way up the stairs and stopped him at the top.

"Gibbs, I have a favor I need to ask."

Gibbs looked at her, noticing she looked flustered he asked, "You all right, Ziver?"

"Yes. Well, no. It's just Natalie's birthmother was here and she wants to be a part of Natalie's life and we don't want to her have any contact with Natalie so we were wondering if Natalie could spend the night with you and I just, I just can't help feeling like this is all my fault." Ziva said, finally breaking down.

Gibbs pulled her into the hallway nearest them so they were not in the open.

"Ziver, it's not your fault. Wanting to be a good mother to Natalie is nothing to be sorry about. This is just a minor roadblock; you and DiNozzo can get through it. And of course Natalie can stay at my house tonight. That woman comes anywhere near Natalie and I'll shoot her myself." Gibbs said, his voice dead serious.

Ziva smiled, "Thank you. Abby was planning on picking her up from school and just taking her straight to your house and then staying there until we all got off work."

"Sure. No problem, Ziver."

Ziva nodded her head in thanks when Gibbs unexpectedly pulled her into a hug.

Ziva clung to him, it was so like Gibbs to know just when she needed him to act like a father.

The two then headed back downstairs to continue their work.

It was 2:30 and Abby had confirmed she had picked up Natalie successfully.

Natalie had been a little confused when she had talked to Tony and Ziva, but she let it go. Even at eight she knew that something was bothering her Dad and she just wanted to make it easier for him, plus she was always happy to hang out with Abby and Gibbs.

Gibbs and McGee left NCIS around 6 but Tony and Ziva weren't ready to go home just yet. They procrastinated for another hour but Tony knew they would have to go home sometime.

They arrived home at around 7:30 and headed inside. They ate quickly and Ziva decided she wanted to go to the gym, she really needed to work off this stress and it was too dark to run outside.

"Will you be all right by yourself, my love?" Ziva asked as Tony watched her get ready, leaning slightly against the wall of their bedroom.

"Yeah." He said, looking at her. "I'll be okay."

"What if she comes by?" Ziva asked.

"I'll have to handle it." He said with a sigh.

Ziva walked over to place a soft kiss on his lips, she had meant for it to be a quick and chaste kiss but Tony pulled her closer, running his hands through her hair as he kissed her back. After a moment, Ziva pulled back and rested her forehead against his.

"I am sorry this is all happening." She said.

"None of this is your fault Z. So don't for a minute think it is. Neither one of us could have predicted this." Tony said, looking her straight in the eyes while cupping her face in his hands.

Ziva nodded her head and Tony placed another kiss on her lips.

"Have a good workout, sweet cheeks." He said, smiling at her.

"I should be back around 10 at the latest. Try to relax please, my love." Ziva said.

"I'll try." Tony said, as he watched her leave for the gym.

A little less than an hour after Ziva had gone, Tony heard a knock at the door.

He walked over to open it, first looking through the peephole. And there was Hannah.

Tony groaned, he didn't want to deal with her but he knew he had to.

He opened the door. "Hannah." He said, more than a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Tony, mind if I come in?" Hannah asked.

Tony opened the door and sarcastically waved her in.

"Where is Natalie?" Hannah asked.

"She's not here." Tony said sternly.

"Well I want to see her." Hannah said, her voice dripping with entitlement.

"I can guarantee you that's not going to happen." Tony replied.

"I deserve to see her Tony, she is my daughter too."

"No she's not. You gave up that right when you abandoned her on her 2nd birthday. I mean god, do you even know when her birthday is? Do you even know how old she's going to be?" Tony spat.

"It's in September." Hannah responded.

"September what?"

"Twenty-fourth." Hannah said, looking slightly unsure.

"Wrong, it's the twenty-eighth. Now would you like to take a guess at her age or do I have to remind you of that too?" Tony said, becoming more upset by the minute.

"I know she's eight years old." Hannah said, the smug look on her face finally set Tony off.

He just couldn't take it anymore, he was more angry than he had felt in a long time. "Well let me get you up to speed on the child you claim you care about, she's going to be nine years old this September and the one thing she wants more than anything is to go to Disney World. She loves everything about art and can already play the piano better than most adults. She likes to sing Beatles songs in the car and she loves Beverly Cleary books. Her favorite color is blue because it reminds her of the ocean and the way her eyes light up when something sparks her interest is the most beautiful thing in the world. She's smart too, more than a grade ahead in her math and reading. She loves horses and ice-skating and ice cream sundaes and I can't adequately put into words exactly how much I love her. And you know why you know NONE of this? Because you abandoned her, you deemed her unworthy of your love and you left. So now do you understand why I am unwilling to ever let you be a part of her life? Because she doesn't need you, she has Ziva and she knows in her heart that Ziva will never leave her because Ziva doesn't love her only when it's convenient, she loves her all the time, no matter what is going on she has never not been there for her. Natalie understands that family doesn't have to be blood related, she knows that because Ziva is there to pick her up from school and hold her when she cries and take her out for ice cream, Natalie, at age eight, is smart enough to understand that's it's not about sharing genes with someone; it's about sharing life. And THAT is what is means to be a mother, something you would know nothing about." Tony finished and it felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, he had been waiting a long time to say that to Hannah.

Just then the door opened and in walked Ziva, the look on her face said that she had heard at least part of Tony's speech. She set her bag down and walked over to Tony, placing her arm tightly around his waist, a move Tony reciprocated.

Hannah finally spoke up, "Why don't we let Natalie decide?"

"No way." Tony replied.

"Wait Tony, maybe she is on to something." Ziva said and Tony shot her a confused look.

"Maybe if we allow her to talk to Natalie, without allowing her to reveal who she is, we can let her see how Natalie feels about this. Do you think you could agree to this?" Ziva asked Hannah.

"Fine." Hannah replied, looking annoyed that Ziva had become involved in the conversation.

"If you tell her anything to make her think you are even related to her in any way, let alone are her birthmother, I promise you I will make your life hell. 17:30 tomorrow at NCIS." Tony said, his face stony and cold.

Hannah nodded and let herself out.

Tony pulled Ziva closer, "Do you really think this will get her to back off?"

"I hope so." Ziva responded.

"Do you think I am doing the right thing? I mean Hannah hasn't changed a bit, there were ten changes of addresses in her background check since 2002, this is her third job in two years, and god she couldn't even remember Natalie's birthday. Am I really doing this for Natalie or am I doing it for me?" Tony asked, looking down at Ziva.

"You are doing it for Natalie. Tony, I don't know if you realize it because you have been doing it for so long, but every single thing you do, you do with Natalie's best interests at heart." Ziva said, running her hands softly through his hair.

"Thank you." He said quietly as his lips found hers.

The couple headed to bed, clinging to each other as they slept, both nervous for what was to come tomorrow.

Somehow they made it through the day, Tony could barely focus on anything for an extended amount of time so he was happy when 5:00 came and Abby brought Natalie back to NCIS.

They were sitting behind Tony's desk, Tony was showing Natalie how to play a new game on his cell phone and Ziva and Abby were talking quietly together over at Ziva's desk.

As 5:30 rolled around, Tony heard the elevator ding, out stepped Hannah who looked utterly terrified. Tony was slightly confused and then Gibbs stepped out after her and he realized why she looked so scared. The best part about that was that Gibbs probably hadn't even said anything to her.

Gibbs motioned to McGee to walk with him to MTAC and he was gone. Hannah made her way to the break room alone and after a moment, Tony took Natalie's hand and followed her.

"Where are we going, Daddy?" Natalie asked.

"Well, Ziva and Abby and I have something we have to do quick but I have a friend (Tony almost choked when he referred to Hannah as a friend) who would like to meet you. " Tony said as they walked into the break room.

"Okay." Natalie said, shrugging her shoulders.

They walked over to a corner of the break room; Hannah was seated at a table.

Tony bent down so that he was at Natalie height, "Hey Peanut, this is Hannah Cohen, I know you don't remember her but you guys met a couple times when you were a baby. She just stopped by to visit and since you were here she wanted to say hi and see how you've grown. I've gotta go help Mommy and Abby with something but I'll be back in a minute and we can all talk, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy." Natalie said, Tony kissed her on the forehead and reluctantly walked out of the room. Thank god McGee had planted a wire on one of the chairs so he could hear everything they said to each other, he felt bad doing it but he still couldn't trust Hannah.

"Hi Natalie." Hannah said as Natalie took a seat in the chair across from hers.

"Hi Miss Cohen." Natalie replied with a smile.

"Oh you can just call me….Hannah."

"Okay." Natalie said. "So, how do you know my Dad?"

"Well," Hannah started, "We were friends a long time ago."

"Did you work at NCIS?" Natalie asked.

"No I didn't we just met through a mutual friend."

"Cool." Natalie replied.

"What grade are you in?" Hannah asked, unsure of where she wanted the conversation to go.

"Third grade, but I'm at fourth grade math and reading level." Natalie said proudly.

"Well that's great. What do you like to do for fun?" Hannah asked.

"Well I really like to read and draw and play the piano. Oh and play with my dog, her name is Raya. I got to pick her out all by myself!" Natalie said, her voice obvious with excitement. "But my favorite thing to do is hang out with my Mom and Dad. We have a lot of fun, sometimes Mom even takes me to get pedicures!"

"Wow, she must love you a lot." Hannah said.

"Yeah she does, she's the best. She braided my hair this morning, isn't it cool?" Natalie asked, holding up the long fishtail braid Ziva had made using the top half of Natalie's hair so that half of her lovely wavy hair was still down around her shoulders.

Hannah decided to go for the hard question, "So, Ziva is your adoptive Mom, right?"

"Yeah." Natalie responded.

"Have you met your birthmother?" Hannah asked, hoping Tony wouldn't burst into the room.

"No, but it's okay. Daddy says that she wasn't ready to have a baby when I was born which is why god gave me Ziva." Natalie said.

Hannah smiled. "I used to know her, she was young and scared. Would you ever want to meet her?"

Natalie paused for a moment before saying, "No. I have a Mommy. And she and Daddy say that genes don't matter. All that matters is that she loves me and I love her."

Hannah smiled a defeated smile; she had finally realized that Tony was right.

Tony then walked in. "Hey, how you guys doing?" He asked, rather nervously.

"Good!" Natalie said.

"Hey Peanut, Abby's got something for you, why don't you run out to the bullpen and go get it?" Tony said to Natalie.

Her face lit up and she ran out of the room.

When Natalie exited the room Hannah started to speak, "You've done a great job with her."

Tony just stared at her in silence.

"I think I understand why you don't want me in her life, I mean she does have a Mom and from the sound of it she loves her very much and I, I don't even know if I am ready. I mean I didn't even feel like a mother with her in here. I thought I would." Hannah said.

"You don't just start to feel like a parent, it takes work." Tony said.

"Yeah, well I don't think I can." Hannah said, "I should go. Here are the papers, signed and everything."

Tony took them, sighing with relief as Hannah walked out.

After a moment, Tony walked into the bullpen. Natalie was sitting on Ziva's lap, laughing uncontrollably as Ziva tickled her. He smiled; this was the confirmation he needed. He had done that for Natalie, because seeing her happy was the most important thing in the world.

Ziva looked over at him and he held up the papers, when Ziva saw them a huge smile that mirrored Tony's broke out on her face. They were going to be all right after all.

**A/N: REVIEW PLEASE!!!!! Love you all!!! **

**p.s. I am NOT loving NCIS lately. I am very VERY disappointed. If they won't let Tony and Ziva be together I would much prefer it if they did not mention any romantic relationships at all because these last two episodes have just been annoying. **

**ALSO, this is very VERY important, one of my very best friends just made a blog where she analyzes episodes of NCIS so you all should please please please read it and comment! She's amazing and I know you will all like it, the web address is….**

**www(dot)arosen1989(dot)blogspot(dot)com (and obviously the (dot) means . ) so please please read it! For me!!**


	21. For Good

**Hey guys, I apologize for not updating in three months. With finals, working for UNICEF/visiting my Aunt & Uncle in Chile, moving to Israel for summer, all the family time/weekend trips to Jordan, Bahrain, & Dubai, going to the World Cup finals in South Africa, & having to deal with switching my fall study abroad program from Greece to Spain, I just lost track of time and forgot about my story! So thanks to everyone who has stuck with this story for so long, you all are amazing! I hope you like this chapter and I promise it will not be another three months before I update again! But now I am in the South Pacific on vacation so hopefully I can get more updates done!**

Chapter 21~For Good

"I've heard it said/that people come into our lives for a reason/bringing something we must learn/and we are led/to those who help us most to grow/if we let them/and we help them in return/well, I don't know if I believe that's true/but I know I'm who I am today/because I knew you."~Wicked

Disclaimer: I own a lot of stuff, unfortunately NCIS does not fall into that category. Now that I've said that…PLEASE let me buy it, pretty please?

"Did you print out the tickets?" Ziva asked as Tony walked into their living room.

"Yep, we leave from Dulles at 21:05 Friday night. Which means we will get there by 22:00 and be at the hotel hopefully by 23:00 which means a decent nights sleep and we can get up and explore the city all day Saturday, then we leave Sunday afternoon at 13:00. " Tony said at he plopped down on the sofa next to Ziva, who was busy on her laptop.

"So what shows look good?" Tony asked.

"I have narrowed it down to three that I think Natalie will like best; The Lion King, Mary Poppins, and Wicked." Ziva said.

"Well, I think she would love The Lion King and Mary Poppins, those are two of her favorite movies. But, what is Wicked?" Tony asked, looking slightly confused.

"Well actually it is the one I thought she would like the most, it is supposed to be the true story of the witches of Oz, I think Natalie would like it since she has been loving the Wizard of Oz lately." Ziva said, showing Tony the productions website.

"True, she does love the Wizard of Oz. That looks good." Tony said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Okay, I will order the tickets right now." Ziva said as she began to place her order. "So how are we going to tell her about this weekend?"

"Well," Tony began, "I thought we could just pack everything and hide it in the car then tell her we are going on an errand and just show up at the airport?"

Ziva laughed, "I think she will like that."

Friday finally came around, Tony and Ziva had been very discreet about packing clothing for the weekend and as far as they knew, Natalie was completely oblivious.

It was 19:00 when Ziva walked into the living room where Natalie and Tony were sitting, "I need to run to the grocery since we are all out of breakfast food, would anyone care to join me?" She asked them.

Natalie perked up, "I'll come!" She said, as she jumped up and ran to her room to get her shoes, she knew Ziva was more likely to buy her at least a little junk food if she accompanied her to the grocery store.

Tony laughed as Natalie sped out of the room. "Well that was easy enough! Did we pack everything?"

"Yes, everything we will need is in the car." Ziva said, grinning from ear to ear, she was almost giddy about her first weekend away with her family. Her family, lately those were the most beautiful words in the world for Ziva. She grabbed her purse from the table since Tony had already packed travel backpacks for her, Natalie, and himself earlier that day and stowed them in the trunk, they were ready to go!

Natalie ran out of her room, "I'm ready!" She said, almost bolting out the door to the car.

With that the DiNozzo clan piled into Tony's car and headed out for their weekend adventure.

Tony made his way onto the freeway when Natalie said, very matter-of-factly, "This is not the way to the grocery Daddy."

Tony and Ziva looked at each other, they were nearing the airport so they figured now was as good of a time as any to tell her.

"That's because we're not going to the grocery store, Peanut." Tony said, grinning into the rearview mirror.

"Well, then where are we going?" Natalie asked, sounding extremely confused.

Ziva turned around in her seat and pulled the plane tickets out of her purse. "Well my dear, we are going to New York City to spend a nice weekend together and see a musical."

Natalie's eyes lit up, "Really?" She asked.

Ziva laughed, "Yes, really."

"Are we seeing Wicked?" Natalie said, her voice almost a whisper as she tried not to give away how much she had wanted to see it.

Ziva smiled and pulled their Wicked tickets out of her purse as well.

Natalie squealed, the excitement practically lifting her out of her seat.

Tony laughed, "Now there's the typical Natalie reaction I was hoping for!" He pulled into the airport parking lot and put the car into park.

Natalie quickly jumped out of the car and practically jumped Ziva. "Thank you Mommy." The little girl said, clutching Ziva tightly.

"Your welcome my darling." Ziva said, hugging the little girl back.

Natalie then moved on to Tony. "Thank you Daddy." She said, going in for a hug but instead Tony scooped up his little girl in his arms.

Natalie laughed as Tony kissed her on the cheek. "Anything for you, Peanut." He said.

"All right we should get moving!" Ziva said, looking at her watch. "We don't want to get held up at security."

Tony placed Natalie back on the ground and the family made their way into the airport.

They made it through security relatively fast and spent the remainder of their time waiting to board the flight by telling Natalie all the things there were to do in New York. By the time they boarded and the flight had taken off, Natalie was fast asleep, head pressed to the window she had been staring out of so intently.

Tony smiled; tucking her in tenderly with the blanket a flight attendant had provided her.

Ziva, getting sleepy as well, settled down on Tony's shoulder.

Tony exhaled in pure contentment; this was what life was supposed to be like.

It was a quick flight, less than an hour; Tony woke Natalie up just as they were landing because he knew it was her favorite part of the flight.

The got off the flight and headed for baggage claim and Natalie was obviously struggling to stay awake. They grabbed their bags, hailed a cab, and as soon as they got on the road, Natalie was passed out in Tony's arms.

They arrived at the hotel and Tony was determined to not wake Natalie up. Thankfully the doorman loaded their bags onto a cart and Tony never had to put Natalie down. Tony walked up to the check-in desk and whispered his information.

"Tony DiNozzo." He said, his voice hushed.

Thankfully the check-in clerk got the situation and whispered back. "Welcome Mr. DiNozzo, your room is number 259. You requested two keys. Breakfast is complimentary every morning and ends at 10. Please enjoy your stay with us." With that she handed Ziva the keys and they headed up to their room.

Ziva opened the door and Tony walked in and set Natalie down on one of the beds. The baggage arrived a minute later and they were all ready to settle down for the night.

Ziva took Natalie's pajamas out of the suitcase and Tony took off her shoes.

"I do not think I have ever seen her this tired." Ziva exclaimed.

"Yeah, the excitement just built up and she crashed." Tony said, placing her shoes on the ground.

Tony and Ziva worked quickly and carefully so as not to wake Natalie up. When they were done Tony bent down to kiss his little girl on the forehead, whispering his goodnight into her ear and Ziva did the same. Then they got ready for bed themselves.

Finally settled into bed, Ziva snuggled into Tony's side. "This was a wonderful idea Tony. You have really made her very happy."

"Are you happy?" Tony asked.

Ziva smiled and kissed him softly on the lips, "Happier than I have ever been."

"Goodnight my ninja." Tony said, pulled Ziva closer.

"Goodnight my love." Ziva responded, and they both fell asleep.

The next morning Tony woke up to what felt like a weight on his chest, opened his eyes and realized there was a little girl sitting cross-legged on top of him.

He opened his eyes and adjusted to the light, "Hey there, munchkin." He said, sending her toppling backwards and laughing hysterically, which in turn woke Ziva up.

"Hello my darling." Ziva said, pulling Natalie close to her for an early morning cuddle.

"Little girl, it is 7am, why are you up so early?" Tony asked, brushing a lock of Natalie's hair back from her face.

"Because I want to go see everything!" Natalie exclaimed, almost jumping out of bed.

Ziva and Tony both laughed, "All right! Hold your horses, how about we head down to breakfast at 8 and then head out to explore before the show? That sound fair?"

Natalie nodded and ran off to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get her clothes ready.

The clan quickly got ready and headed downstairs for a quick breakfast and by 8:45 they were out the door and ready to explore New York City. They spent the morning exploring Central Park, which Natalie loved, and by 1:30 they were back in Midtown for the Saturday matinee of Wicked.

Natalie had been buzzing with excitement all morning and by the time they got into the cab and headed back to Midtown, she was almost bouncing.

They walked into the theatre and the minute they walked in and Natalie's eyes lit up with wonder, Tony knew he would never forget this day.

As they took their seats, Natalie couldn't stop looking at everything around her, sitting in between Tony and Ziva she pointed out every little detail she noticed about the set and the Gershwin theatre.

Then the curtain closed and the musical started.

Tony watched Natalie almost as much as he watched the show, the looks on her face were just priceless to him. How her eyes lit up when Glinda floated onto the stage in her bubble and how Elphaba flew on her broomstick as she sang about how she was going to defy gravity. Natalie sat poised in her chair, leaning forward with her head in her hands, completely focused on the scene in front of her. Tony honestly could not have been happier.

When Elphaba and Fiyero sang "As Long As Your Mine" Tony felt a hand sneak into his own and looked over at Ziva who squeezed his hand.

Tony smiled, this truly would go down as one of his favorite memories.

When the musical was over Tony looked down at Natalie who seemed to be in a sort of trance from the wonderment of the theatre, then as she snapped out of it and jumped into her Dad's arms.

"Thank you so much Daddy. This was the best day ever." Natalie said, hugging Tony.

Ziva smiled at the sight before her. "I would have to say I agree, this has been the best day ever."

Tony smiled and pulled Ziva into their hug, just happy to be with the two people he loved most in the world.

**A/N: Comments are greatly appreciated; I hope I haven't lost my touch! Hopefully the warm air of the South Pacific will get me back in the writing groove! It is, after all, the place where this story started!**

**P.S. read my newest story, it's called "Mine" Thanks!**


	22. The Best Is Yet To Come

**Hannelovestiva….so funny you should mention that ;]**

**A/N: I'm literally updating this from the beach. This is how much I love you all! REVIEWS PLEASE!**

Chapter 22: "The Best Is Yet To Come"

"Out of the tree of life, I just picked me a plum/You came along and everything started to hum/Still its a real good bet, the best is yet to come."

Tony DiNozzo sat at his desk, staring at his calendar. One week ago he had been in New York City with his family and now in one week he would be 39 years old. For so long he had dreaded this birthday, to him it was almost worse than actually turning 40; it meant that he had to spend a whole year thinking about the fact that he was turning 40. But now that he was married and settled down, 39 didn't seem like such a big number, even though his wife was 8 years younger than him it didn't seem to matter, right now he was just focused on living a long life with the people he loved most.

Later that night after Natalie had gone to bed, Tony and Ziva sat on the sofa and watched the news together as usual and talked.

"So my love, your birthday is next week." Ziva said, trying to move into the conversation lightly.

"That it is." Tony responded.

"Is there anything you would like?" She asked.

"Honestly, I am content with just a nice dinner with you and Natalie and the team, then maybe we could convince Abby to take Natalie for the night so we could do some private celebrating?" Tony said, winking at Ziva and making her laugh.

"I think that sounds doable. But is there anything you would like, as in a gift?" Ziva asked.

"Nah, I just want to be with you guys. Oh wait, scratch that I would love for you to buy some of that bonkers lingerie we found last weekend." Tony said, his eyes showing a wicked smile.

Ziva elbowed him lightly and laughed, "We will see my love."

Tony's birthday fell on a Thursday so they had all agreed to go to his favorite Italian restaurant for dinner, even Gibbs had agreed to come.

Natalie had been working on Tony's present, as secretly as an 8 year old could manage, for the past two weeks. And Tony had to admit, he was a little curious about what she was doing. She had insisted upon giving him his gift before they went out to dinner.

So before they went to dinner, Natalie sat Tony down on the sofa in the living room to give him her gift.

Ziva walked in after a minute, a big smile on her face and sat down next to Tony.

"Okay seriously Z, what is going on?" Tony asked.

"Just watch." Ziva said, pointing as Natalie walked into the living room in a pretty new dress that Ziva had picked out with her for Tony's birthday.

Natalie walked over to the piano and sat down, putting her sheet music up on the stand.

'Ohh' Tony thought to himself, 'I should have figured this out; she hasn't played the piano in front of me in a couple weeks. This makes sense now.'

Natalie sat down and started playing, and what she played made Tony's heart melt.

Her small fingers hit the notes perfectly to one of what Tony called "their songs", it was "Bridge Over Troubled Water" he had always been a Simon & Garfunkel fan and when Natalie was little she had not liked traditional nursery rhymes, so to get her to sleep he found a couple popular songs that worked. These songs they had come to refer to as "their songs". Tony's eyes welled up when Natalie started singing along to the song, her small voice was soft and smooth as she softly sang the lyrics.

She finished the song and Tony couldn't stop himself from standing up and clapping. She turned around and bolted off the piano bench and into Tony's arms.

"Did you like it Daddy?" Natalie asked, hope evident in her voice.

"Like it? Peanut, I loved it! You made me tear up!" Tony said hugging his little girl.

"I love you, Daddy. Happy Birthday." Natalie said, still clutching her father in a tight hug.

Natalie finally broke the hug; "I have one more thing for you!" She said excitedly as she ran back into her room and came out with a box.

"Open it, open it!" She said excitedly.

Tony laughed and started opening the package, when he opened the box he found a mix cd containing Natalie's version of the song and an assortment of their songs.

"Aww Peanut this is so sweet, did you do this yourself?" Tony asked.

"No, Ziva helped me a lot. There's more in there!" She said, obviously excited.

Tony then pulled out a card Natalie had made herself; there was a drawing of himself, Ziva, Natalie, and Raya on the front and a message to her Dad inside. He then pulled out a box; inside this box was a tie. It was blue with small white stripes diagonally down it.

"Wow, Peanut. I love it, did you pick it out yourself?"

Natalie nodded her head vigorously.

"Thank you so much Peanut." Tony said, hugging Natalie once again. "Why don't you go put your shoes on so we can leave for dinner?"

"Okay!" Natalie said, bolting for her room.

Ziva put her head on Tony's shoulder. "You know she paid for the whole thing herself. She must have saved up allowances and all that money she wins from Ducky when they card games. She wouldn't let me help her at all."

Tony smiled, still holding the tie in his hands, "Sometimes I don't know how I raised such a great kid."

"I do." Ziva said softly before kissing him lightly on the lips.

A moment later Natalie ran back into the living room. "I'm ready! Let's go!" She said, as she bolted out the front door and down to the car.

Dinner that night was nice, the whole gang ate together and it was nice to be together and not have to talk about a case. Tony was happy, his real family and his NCIS family. He couldn't have asked for a better birthday.

The gang left the restaurant and said their goodbyes, Abby was taking Natalie for the night so Tony and Ziva could have a little birthday celebration of their own.

Tony and Ziva arrived at home and the minute they shut the door, they basically attacked each other.

Tony started to take off Ziva's dress and noticed her choice of underwear. "Oh my gosh, you actually went back and bought the bonkers underwear I liked. If it's possible I love you more."

Ziva laughed, "I have one more gift for you." She said as she got up and went to grab something from their bedroom.

Ziva handed him two boxes, "Open this one first", she said pointing to the slightly smaller one.

Tony opened the wrapped box, inside were a beautiful pair of gold cufflinks.

"Aww thanks beautiful. I can't believe you remembered I liked these."

"Of course I remember, you went on and on about cufflinks and how not many men still wear them but you like them because you feel like a member of the Rat Pack." Ziva said, smirking as she said it.

"Your husband is quite the classy man." Tony said, trying not to laugh himself.

He then started to open the second box; inside it he found a medal.

"Okay, this is Saint Michael the Archangel. I thought you needed a medal to wear, since I have my Star of David, I thought you needed something that represented you. So not only is Saint Michael the patron saint of police officers and those in the security forces, he is also the Guardian Angel of Israel. And I liked this because Saint Michael is a common symbol of devotion to both Christians and Jews, so like us even though he represents different faiths, he represents how they are united in their belief that there is something good in the world."

Tony looked at Ziva, "Thank you." He said softly, running his hand through her hair.

"I love you, Ziva." He said pulling her in for a passionate kiss that ended with them in the bedroom.

Tony lay awake after that had made love, his mind racing. Ziva, sensing he was not asleep, woke up too.

"Why are you still up my love?" She asked, pressing her body against his.

"Just thinking." Tony said, turning around so that he had better access to run his hand down her side.

"What were you thinking about?" Ziva asked, her head propped up on his chest.

"What I would really like for my birthday."

Ziva positioned herself so she and Tony were face to face, "And what is that?"

"A baby." Tony said, holding her face in his hands.

"What?" Ziva said, shooting up into a sitting position.

Tony moved to sit up too, "It's just seeing Natalie growing up and watching you two together and how good you are with her, I just…I want a baby with you. And I would like to be a Dad again before I'm too old."

"Tony, you are 39 years old, men become fathers in their late 40's and even 50's these days." Ziva said.

"I know, but I don't want to be one of those Dad's who is too old to do anything, I'm already going to be at least 60 when our kid is 20. I don't want to be too old to be a good Dad. You don't have to make a decision right now, we can talk about this and you can think about it, I just wanted to put the idea out there. Because you asked me what I wanted and the one thing I want more than anything is to have a baby with you Ziva David." Tony didn't know what he was expecting Ziva to say to his confession; he just knew he needed her to hear it.

"Okay." Ziva said, a smile on her face.

"Okay?" Tony asked, slightly confused.

"Okay, as in yes. I want to have a baby with you." Ziva said, her face smiling brightly at Tony.

"Are you sure?" Tony asked, his face shining with hope.

Ziva nodded her head, "I am, I only ask that we wait a month or two before we start trying so that I may wrap my head around this, it is going to be a big change."

Tony grabbed her and kissed her passionately, then settling them into a tight hug. "Anything for you, beautiful."

Tony and Ziva continued their passionate kiss into round two, and after that Tony fell fast asleep, dreaming of all the happiness to come.

**A/N: REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW. Please & thank you :]**


	23. All American Girl

**HELLO! Sorry it's been SO long. My life has been hectic, I've been traveling every weekend and I've got finals this week, so please stick with me. I'm spending the weekend in Paris right now, studying. Which is so lame but I'm coming back here for Christmas so it's okay! I promise this story will come to an acceptable conclusion; I have absolutely no interest in just giving up on it. I love it far too much!**

**Also, a good friend of mine lost both of his legs in Afghanistan a few weeks ago. He is in stable condition but his recovery is going to be a very long process. I do not know if you all pray or even believe in a God…but if you do please keep him in your prayers. **

**Also, Happy Hanukkah to all my fellow Jews :]**

Disclaimer: I own a lot of stuff, unfortunately NCIS does not fall into that category.

Chapter 23: All-American Girl

"And he's wrapped around her finger/she's the center of his whole world/and his heart belongs to that sweet, little, beautiful, wonderful, perfect/all-American girl"

"MOMMY." Natalie squealed from her bedroom, insistent on getting Ziva's attention.

Ziva, who was sitting in the living room reading a book, laughed as she heard Natalie's cry.

"MOMMY, PLEASE. I NEED YOU." Natalie whined.

Ziva shook her head, Natalie, like her Father, was impatient and very stubborn, she responded back, "Hold on one second, mammelah. I will be right there." Ziva set her book down and headed to Natalie's bedroom.

She opened the door and stepped in, "What is wrong, my dear?"

"I don't know what to wear tonight."

Ziva laughed silently to herself and took turned to look at the mess Natalie had made from her clothes.

"I thought you had a costume to wear on stage?" Ziva asked.

"I do, but I have to pick something to wear when I go there and when I come home. Daddy says it's always important to look your best." Natalie said, as if Ziva should already know this.

Ziva shook her head and laughed out loud, "Yes that does sound like something your Father would say." She surveyed the outfits Natalie had picked out, Tony definitely spoiled his daughter when it came to clothes, Natalie's closet was packed with brands like Juicy Couture, True Religion, and Diesel. Ziva did not understand Tony's insistence in buying Natalie a $200 sweat suit when she would just grow out of it in a year, but it was something Tony enjoyed doing and Ziva suspected the quality time with Natalie was the bigger reason he took her on elaborate shopping sprees.

Ziva picked up a few outfits and studied them before settling on a grey Juicy Couture tunic dress that was simple but not too simple because of some cute ruffles on the shoulder, Tony had insisted they buy it for her a few weeks earlier when he had gone to the mall with intentions of needing a new pair of dress shoes and got distracted when they walked by the girls clothing department, Ziva hadn't minded though, in fact she thought it was adorable that Tony was almost always the only man in the girls department, the other Mother's clearly seemed to find it endearing as well considering how often he got hit on, but what Ziva found even more attractive was how Tony never missed an opportunity to brag about his beautiful eight year old daughter.

"How about this one?" She asked, holding up the light grey dress in front of Natalie. "You could wear it with black tights and those black suede boots we got you last week?"

Natalie stared at it carefully for a minute as if she was picturing the outfit in her head. A smile finally broke out on her face, "Awesome! Thanks Mommy, you're the best!" Natalie said, hugging Ziva.

Ziva smiled and hugged her back.

"Okay, now that you have an outfit you need to put all this away, your Dad will be back soon and I do not want him to come home to a mess." Ziva said to Natalie as she walked out the door.

"Okay! Thanks Mommy!" Natalie said excitedly as she scrambled to pick up clothes as fast as possible.

Ziva made her way back to the living room. It was funny, "Mom" was such a simple word and yet every time Natalie said it, Ziva's heart fluttered a little. She hoped there would never be a time when being called 'Mom' got old, she loved it far too much.

Ziva settled in to continue reading her book until about fifteen minutes later when Tony came through the door. He had been off with Gibbs watching Ohio State play and was in a good mood since they had won.

"Hey Z!" He said, bending over to kiss her. "How'd it go today?"

Ziva put her book down, "Everything went well, Natalie had a slight wardrobe dilemma a little while ago but we overcame it. How was the game?" She asked, standing up to kiss him again on the lips.

Tony, distracted by her kiss, took a minute to recover before he answered. "Oh it was a great game! The boys are looking good this year. We're definitely headed for a great bowl game!" Tony said excitedly. "Where is the Peanut?" Tony asked, looking around for Natalie.

"She has been practicing in her room all afternoon, she should probably start getting ready soon." Ziva answered.

"Well, I stopped at the mall and picked her up something for good luck." Tony said, pulling a little box out of his pocket. He opened it to reveal a silver horseshoe charm for her silver Juicy charm bracelet. "For luck."

Ziva laughed and smiled at him, "I think she will absolutely love it. Also it will go well with her outfit."

An hour and a half later Natalie was ready to go, Ziva had helped her fix her hair and get herself ready. The two girls walked out into the living room to meet Tony. Natalie was dressed in the outfit they had picked out earlier and had her long black hair in soft curls down her back while Ziva was wearing black riding pants with a dark kelly green off the shoulder top and silver flats and her down and curly. Tony liked the side of Ziva he saw when she was not working; it was a simpler Ziva, a freer Ziva.

He grinned at his two girls. "Look at my girls! You both look so beautiful!" Tony said. "But Natalie, I think something is missing from your outfit." He said, looking at her as if scrutinizing her appearance.

Natalie looked at him with a confused look on her face. "What is missing?" She asked, looking down at her outfit.

"This." Tony said, handing her the pink Juicy Couture box.

Natalie's eyes lit up as she took the box in her hand and opened it.

"It's a horseshoe for good luck." Tony said.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" She squealed as she pulled Tony into a hug. "I'm going to wear it right now!" She ran to her room to grab her silver Juicy charm bracelet and came back a moment later with the charm attached.

"Now you're perfect!" Tony exclaimed. "Are we ready to go now?" He asked them.

"YES!" Natalie squealed, obviously excited for her concert, she bolted out to the car.

The DiNozzo family piled into Tony's car and headed for Natalie's school.

Tony and Ziva dropped Natalie off, she had to be there an hour early in order to run through the show and get into her costume so Tony and Ziva went for a quick bite to eat.

It was a nice enough night so Tony and Ziva opted for a quick sandwich and a walk around the park. They held hands as they strolled around and talked before leaving to head back to Natalie's school.

The theme of the concert was "Peace & Compassion", which Natalie, who as a baby could only be calmed by the songs of the Beatles/John Lennon and who couldn't care less about Miley Cyrus because she still adored the Beatles, absolutely loved.

The kids were singing a total of 10 songs. Each class had three songs, two lucky kids had solos, and then they all sang two songs together.

Tony and Ziva arrived relatively early after their quick dinner in order to get good seats.

They sat close together and discussed chatted for a bit, Ziva sat with her hand placed on Tony's knee and he placed his hand over hers. It had become their way of sitting and Ziva liked that, she had never wanted to be near someone so much until she met Tony.

Then a woman sitting behind them and a few seats over said, "Excuse Me?"

The woman had short blonde hair and looked to be about 5'3", a welcoming smile plastered across her face.

Tony and Ziva both turned around, "Yes?" Ziva said, a confused look on her face.

"Are you Natalie's parents?" The woman asked.

"Yes we are." Ziva replied with a smile.

"I thought so!" The woman replied excitedly. "I'm Andrea Morris, Sarah's Mom."

"Oh, it's so nice to meet you! Sarah is a lovely girl." Ziva replied, kindly.

"Thank you so much! Your Natalie is such a doll! What a little firecracker! She talks about you two all the time!" Andrea gushed.

Ziva smiled, "Thank you very much."

"Well show's about to start but it was a pleasure to finally meet you!"

"Same to you." Tony and Ziva both replied.

Ziva looked over to Tony, who had a large grin set on his face, which made Ziva smile as well because she knew nothing made Tony more proud than knowing other people thought Natalie was as amazing as he did.

Just then, the theatre got dark, signaling the show was about to being.

The concert started and the first group of kids came on.

They started the show with a sweet rendition of "I'd Like To Teach the World to Sing" and also sang "What A Wonderful World" and "Peace Train".

Tony and Ziva clapped along with the other parents, the kids really were doing a great job.

Natalie's group came on stage, Tony and Ziva found her quickly, she was one of the taller kids in the class plus her curly jet black hair tended to stand out.

They sang "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", "Higher Ground", and "Let It Be" beautifully. Tony and Ziva didn't know if it was possible to be more proud of their little girl.

After Natalie's group filed off stage a little boy walked out, he started singing "Waiting on the World to Change" and Tony and Ziva were pleasantly surprised that he did the song true justice.

As he made his way off stage a familiar face made it's way on to the stage.

It was Natalie.

"Did she tell you she had a solo?" Tony whispered in Ziva's ear.

"She did not, but you know Natalie, she loves to surprise us." Ziva whispered back.

They grew quiet as Natalie started to sing, "I Hope".

Tony and Ziva were mesmerized; both had tears in their eyes. Ziva knew this was especially emotional for Tony, Natalie was his baby, she was the love of his life in a sense. She was and would always be the only person Tony had changed completely for and because of this she would always pull on Tony's heartstrings a little differently than anyone or anything else. Tony clutched her hand tightly and she responded with putting her other hand around his.

Natalie's sweet voice filled the auditorium, "I hope for more love, joy and laughter/I hope we'll have more than we'll ever need/I hope we can all live more fearlessly/and we can lose all the pain and misery/I hope, I hope…"

Natalie continued singing and Ziva could see the tears of pride threatening to run on Tony's face.

She finished her song and the audience broke out into applause, Tony clapping the hardest of them all.

"That's our girl." He whispered, smiling from ear to ear.

Ziva could do nothing to hide the grin on her face as well, our girl, she thought. How she loved the sound of those words.

All the kids came out to sing two last songs, "Imagine" and "God Bless The World" and they did a fantastic job.

When the concert ended, Tony looked around for Natalie and found her surrounded by three nine-year-old boys.

"Oh my god." Tony groaned, "It's started already."

Ziva laughed, "They are just talking, leave her be."

Natalie talked with them for a moment more until she noticed Tony and Ziva and bolted across the room to them.

Ziva saw her and laughed, "See, you will always be her number 1."

Natalie jumped in to Tony's arms and hugged him tightly.

"Did you like it? Did you like it?" She asked excitedly as Tony set her back on the ground.

"We absolutely loved it Peanut!" Tony said, as Natalie enveloped Ziva in a hug.

"You were amazing, mammelah!" Ziva said, hugging Natalie back.

"Thanks! I had so much fun! I really love singing!" Natalie gushed, almost bouncing as she spoke. Tony could tell she was still on a high from her performance and when she crashed for the night she would be OUT.

"You didn't tell us you had a solo, gosh Peanut you just blew me away!" Tony said.

"I wanted to surprise you." Natalie said, shyly.

"You certainly accomplished that, you were so good!" Ziva gushed.

"I love singing so much! Plus there's a community theatre show that Ms. Cline wants me to audition for, could I try it Daddy, please?" Natalie begged.

"Of course you can, Peanut. If it's something you really love maybe we could look into getting you some private voice lessons as well? I saw a sign advertising your teacher for those, is that something you would like?" Tony asked.

Natalie's eyes lit up, "Really?"

"Of course, Peanut. You know I would do anything for you." Tony said, softly brushing a lock of her curly hair behind her ear.

"I know Daddy." She said sweetly, giving him another hug.

"You ready to head home?"

**A/N: Can't you just see Tony shopping for clothes if he had a little girl? He would be sooo adorable! REVIEW PLEASE! Reviews make me write faster and my finals are over on Wednesday & winter holiday is fast approaching and I will actually have time to write! YAY!**

**My little sister Sasha has that dress. I picked it out for her. It's adorable! lol**

**And thank you all for sticking with this story even though I've been absolutely horrible at updating; it means the world to me. But I've got all winter break to sit on a beach and write! Yay!**

**xoxo cerie**

Also, not sure if I have to give credit for these songs since I only used lyrics from one but these amazing people wrote these songs-download them, listen to them, love them.

"I'd Like To Teach the World to Sing" by The New Seekers

"What A Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong

"Peace Train" by Cat Stevens

"Somewhere Over The Rainbow" from the Wizard of Oz

"Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder

"Let It Be" by The Beatles

"Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer

"I Hope" by The Dixie Chicks

"Imagine" by John Lennon

"God Bless The World" by Greg Jones


	24. Bulletproof, I Wish I Was

**Happy Holidays from the Indian Ocean! I hope everyone's breaks have been lovely!**

**Enjoy & REVIEW :]**

"**Bulletproof, I Wish I Was"**

"Limb by limb and tooth by tooth/tearing up inside of me/every day, every hour/I wish that I was bulletproof."~Radiohead

Disclaimer: I own a lot of things, NCIS unfortunately does not fall into that category. (Although not for lack of trying.)

Ziva had been pacing the apartment for over a half an hour, she was livid and she was cursing loudly in Hebrew.

"Why is he coming? There is obviously no reason other than he wants to make me feel guilty for not contacting him since before I was in Somalia." Ziva said, fuming, still pacing the room.

Tony didn't know what to say, frankly he was also beyond pissed himself that Eli David would dare to come to Washington, D.C. let alone into NCIS headquarters after having abandoned his daughter like he did.

Tony was leaning on the back of the sofa, arms crossed, looking as angry as Ziva did. "Are you kidding? How are you supposed to feel guilty? He was the one who left you to die in Somalia. He knew you were alive and he did nothing!" Tony fumed, he was getting angrier by the minute.

"It is just his twisted way of supposedly caring for me. Everything is about him, it always has been and it always will be." Ziva said crossing her arms and staring at Tony, finally stopping her pacing.

"Well, it's not right and I'll be damned if I let him make you feel like any of this is your fault." Tony said.

Ziva smiled a little bit; it was nice to know that Tony had her back.

"What if we go away? Just jump on a plane and get out of here for the week? Vance will understand and Gibbs will definitely understand. Come on Ziva, we can go anywhere you want, Paris? London? Hell, we can even go back to Israel if you want! It would be the perfect time, you wouldn't have to deal with Eli." Tony said, his eyes pleading with her.

"Tony, as much as I would like to go away, especially to Israel, I have to face him. He will think I am running away if I do not see him." Ziva said, shaking her head.

"Damn it Ziva, I don't care what he thinks. I care about YOU. I want you to be okay. You know how much it hurt me to see you so lifeless when you came back from Somalia? It killed me every day to see the emptiness in your eyes and it's Eli's fault it was there in the first place!" Tony yelled, he was really angry now. "What is facing him going to do? Just remind you of how dead inside he is? You don't always have to be brave, Ziva. Don't be brave, for once in your life." Tony pleaded.

"Tony, I appreciate your concern, but I have to do this. I have to show him that he hasn't ruined my whole life." Ziva said, staring intently at Tony.

"Then send him a damn Christmas card!" Tony exclaimed angrily, throwing his arms up in the air and accidentally sending a picture frame crashing to the ground.

He took a deep breath and picked up the frame; thankfully it had a plastic covering instead of glass so it hadn't broken. The picture inside it was one Tony had taken of Ziva and Natalie after they had baked cookies from scratch, their clothes, faces, and hands had flour and chocolate all over them but their faces were beaming as they proudly displayed their homemade treats.

Tony set the frame back on the ledge, his hand lingering on it for a minute. "I just don't want to loose this Ziva." He said, pointing to the picture.

Just then, a mess of curly dark hair popped around the corner, her face pale and frightened.

Ziva saw her first. "Mammelah, what are you doing up?"

"I heard you guys yelling and then I heard a loud noise." Natalie said, clearly a little bit frightened.

"Oh I am so sorry sweetheart, your Daddy knocked down a picture, it was an accident." Ziva said, turning to the girl and pulling her into a hug.

"Hey, Peanut." Tony said sweetly, trying to disguise his anger with a smile.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said, walking over and brushing the stray hairs away from her face.

Ziva let go but Natalie still gripped her leg with one hand. "Were you fighting?" She asked, timidly.

"No, sweetheart, we are not fighting with each other, we are both just angry about something." Ziva said, rubbing Natalie's back.

"Why are you angry?" Natalie asked.

Ziva looked at Tony, as if begging him to understand that she didn't think she had the energy to go over it.

Tony bent down to Natalie's height, "Well, Peanut. You know how Mom's own Dad lives in Israel?"

Natalie nodded her head.

"Well, he's coming to NCIS tomorrow and we are angry because we don't want him to hurt her anymore."

"Why is he coming?" Natalie asked, her eyes confused.

"Well, there's a conference at NCIS that he wants to be involved in." Tony replied.

Tony could tell Natalie didn't really understand but she was perceptive enough at eight to understand that Tony and Ziva didn't really want to talk about it anymore.

"Okay." She said, signaling they could stop talking about it.

"How about we tuck you in again?" Ziva asked, looking down at Natalie.

Natalie nodded her head vigorously and dragged them both toward her bedroom.

Raya was sprawled across the foot of Natalie's bed, leaving Natalie the tiniest space for her legs.

"Holy crap this dog gets bigger by the second!" Tony exclaimed, looking with genuine shock at Ziva who just laughed.

"Jeez Peanut, maybe we need to get you a bigger bed." Tony said, looking at Natalie's tiny bed and the large dog and growing girl on it.

Natalie's eyes got brighter when Tony said that, "Really?"

"Yeah, why not? We can go look this weekend." Tony said, smiling as he ran a hand over his little girl's hair.

"Thanks Daddy." Natalie said, smiling up at her Father.

"Goodnight, Peanut." Tony said, bending down and kissing his daughter on the forehead.

"Lailah tov, mammelah." Ziva said, bending over and giving her a butterfly kiss.

* * *

The next day came early. Tony and Ziva were relatively quiet as they got ready for work. The morning moved quickly, they dropped Natalie off at school, continued working on their current case and got lunch. After lunch Vance made a surprising visit to the bullpen to warn them of Eli David's impending arrival and then returned to his office.

Sure enough, Eli David arrived at 1600. Tony had gone to pick Natalie up from school and bring her to NCIS, so she could check on the science experiment she had been working on with Abby, while Gibbs was in MTAC with Vance and therefore Ziva and McGee were the only ones in the bullpen.

Ziva heard the elevator ding but didn't look up, until she saw a man standing over her desk.

"Ziva." Eli David said, addressing her directly.

"Eli." Ziva replied, standing so she could look him in the eyes, wanting to prove that she wasn't afraid of him.

They were silent; Ziva was not sure what she wanted to say to this man.

"You look well." Eli said.

"No thanks to you." Ziva replied, her stare icy cold.

Eli sighed as if he was going to reply when he was interrupted by the squeals of an eight-year-old girl.

"Mommy!" Natalie squealed as she bolted toward Ziva.

Hearing Natalie's voice, Ziva turned around and smiled brightly as Natalie rushed into her arms.

Ziva clutched her daughter tightly, she had never been happier to see Natalie's smiling face; she really needed some unconditional love at that moment. She figured Natalie must have rushed ahead of Tony in her excitement to get upstairs because knowing Tony; he had probably begun a conversation with someone in the lobby.

As Ziva stood up from the hug, she held tightly to Natalie's little hand and turned around to face Eli.

Natalie, sensing something was off, hid herself partly behind Ziva and nuzzled her head into Ziva's side.

"Who is this little one, Ziva?" Eli David asked, bending down to peek at Natalie who was hiding behind Ziva.

"This is Natalie." Ziva said coldly.

"Shalom, Natalie." Eli said, in a surprisingly warm tone.

"Shalom." Natalie replied, quietly.

Her response in Hebrew made Eli smile and Natalie eased up a bit but Ziva could tell she was still unsure of the man in front of her.

"Mammelah, why don't you go see if McGee will take you down to Abby's lab?" Ziva said glancing over at McGee who had heard her and knew it was his cue to give Ziva a moment alone with her father.

"Yeah sounds good, Natalie, Abby had something she wanted to show you from the project you were working on, want to go down?" McGee said.

Natalie nodded her head and followed McGee to the elevator.

Eli waved at her as she walked on to the elevator and she cautiously waved back.

The elevator doors shut and Ziva was once again left alone with her father.

"Mommy?" Eli said, his voice questioning.

"This is not the place to talk about this." Ziva said, curtly. She began to walk upstairs to the conference room; at least there was no one else there.

Ziva shut the door to the conference room; Eli sat down and made himself comfortable, indicating that he would not be the one to start the conversation.

Ziva took a deep breath; she wanted so badly to not get upset.

"Natalie is Tony's daughter." Ziva said.

"Anthony DiNozzo." Eli said, dragging out his name when he spoke.

The way he said Tony's name, seemingly disgusted by it, mad Ziva furious. "Yes. Anthony DiNozzo, the man who saved my life when you sent me to die." She said harshly, looking Eli straight in the eye.

She gave herself a minute to calm down before she spoke again; she had gotten her jab in, now she needed to be civil.

"I adopted Natalie after Tony and I got married." She said.

"You married Anthony DiNozzo." Eli said.

Ziva was not sure how to respond to that, she couldn't really tell by his tone if it was a statement or a question.

"I love him. " She said flatly, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Do you really love him or are you just clinging to him because he saved you? You want them to be your replacement family but they will never be." Eli said.

That was it for Ziva, she couldn't stand to look at him anymore let alone be in the same room with him.

"THEY have names. And they ARE my real family no matter what you say. We are done here." She said and with that walked out of the room.

She made her way down to Abby's lab swiftly, not wanting to wait for the elevator she just took the stairs. When she arrived downstairs she noticed that Tony and Gibbs had joined the group. Abby seemed to be explaining evidence to them and Natalie was over at Abby's desk focused on something on the computer.

The team all turned around when Ziva came in, they all noticed her tear stained face but choose not to say anything.

Surprisingly Gibbs was the first one to speak. "Nothing more we can do until the DNA is processed."

Tony looked at Ziva, he wanted so badly to pull her into an embrace but he knew that wasn't a good idea right at the moment.

"Ready to go?" He asked her softly.

She nodded her head.

"Natalie, time to get going." Tony said.

To everyone's surprise, Gibbs chimed in. "Actually I promised Natalie we would go see that new movie Megabrain…"

Natalie burst out in laughter as she corrected him, "It's MegaMIND!"

Gibbs laughed silently and corrected himself, "Right, right Megamind, and tonight seemed like a good night to go, she can just sleep at my house. I'm due for some quality time with my goddaughter anyway." Gibbs said with a smile.

Natalie had walked over to Tony's side, "Ohhh please Daddy can I stay with Gibbs tonight? Please, please, PLEASE?" Natalie begged.

Tony smiled, "Of course you can, Peanut." He said, patting her on the shoulder. He shot Gibbs a look that said 'thank you'. He needed to talk to Ziva and didn't want Natalie to have to deal with this; of course Gibbs picked up on that feeling, hence his offer to take Natalie.

"Okay then, ready to go, Ziva?" Tony asked, looking at her with concern.

"Yes." She replied, softly.

"All right, goodnight Peanut. I'll see you tomorrow. Be good for Gibbs." Tony said, hugging Natalie tightly.

"I'm always good, Daddy!" Natalie said, a slightly mischievous grin on her face."

Tony laughed, "Uh huh, sure."

Natalie turned to Ziva to say goodnight.

Ziva held on to Natalie tightly and they whispered goodnights. As they were about to let go, Natalie whispered something in Ziva's ear that made her tear up even more.

The rest of the team said their goodnights and Tony and Ziva headed home.

The car ride home was silent. Tony decided to give Ziva that time to think things over.

The moment they got home, Ziva broke down.

Tony hadn't expected this; he had actually imagined it would be the opposite that he would have to force her to talk about the events of the day.

He held her as she cried into his shoulder, just letting her get it all out.

Once she was calm enough to talk she pulled back slightly. Tony took his hand and wiped a few tears away from her tear stained face.

"Ziva, what happened today?" Tony asked.

Ziva took a deep breath before answering. "Eli…Eli accused me of clinging to you and Natalie as some sort of replacement family. He accused me of using you."

Tony gritted his teeth, he wanted nothing more than to punch Eli David square in the jaw.

"Ziva, you and I both know that isn't true. If being at NCIS has taught me anything it's that family doesn't have to be related by blood. Family is loving someone unconditionally and wanting the best for them no matter what they do." Tony said, stroking her cheek.

"I know. I know he was wrong, Tony. In my heart I do. But it does not make hearing him say such things hurt any less." Ziva said.

Tony put his forehead against hers. "I know. I'm so sorry, Ziva."

"I did almost believe him for a moment and then when I was saying goodbye to Natalie she whispered in my ear 'I will love you forever, I will like you for always, as long as I am living my Mommy you will be.' That was when I knew for sure he was wrong. I would do anything absolutely anything for that little girl. She does not just make me feel wanted, she makes me feel needed, she makes me feel like I matter, like my life is not just for me, it is for her and for you, Tony. Without you two I would not have a family, I would not be happy."

"I love you, you know. More than I ever thought it was possible to love anyone. I know I do not say it as often as I should, but I hope you know that I do." Ziva said, touching her forehead to Tony's.

"I know, sweet cheeks. I feel the same way." Tony said, pulling her more tightly in his arms.

* * *

Gibbs and Natalie arrived at his house after the movie and decided to make mac and cheese for dinner. Gibbs was cooking while Natalie sat on the counter and basically recounted the plot of the movie to Gibbs, quoting lines that she thought were hilarious. Gibbs smiled to himself as she talked, her face lighting up as she animatedly recounted her favorite parts of the film.

"All right, munchkin. Dinner is served." Gibbs said as he placed portions of macaroni on a plate for her and one for himself.

Natalie quickly dug into her food and as they ate they chatted about Natalie's school and her friends. As she finished her meal, Natalie grew quiet. This concerned Gibbs a little, after all, this was DiNozzo's daughter.

They washed the dishes quickly and since it was still early they headed downstairs, Gibbs thought a craft would cheer her up.

Gibbs pulled out the large roll of paper and art supplies he kept specifically for Natalie and they set them out. When they sat down to paint and she still wasn't as enthusiastic as she normally was, he decided to inquire.

"Okay, what's going on with you?" Gibbs asked. Normally he didn't like to talk about feelings, it just wasn't his style, but Natalie was the one living person he would do absolutely anything for and it broke his heart to see her even somewhat distraught.

"Well, I was thinking about Mommy and her Dad." Natalie said.

Gibbs nodded, his cue for her to continue.

"She and Daddy say he is a bad man and that he hurt her, why would he do that?" Natalie asked, looking more upset by the minute.

"Well, sometimes people just don't understand how to be Father's. Your Mom grew up differently from you and when you're a little bit older she'll tell you about that, but her Dad didn't treat her like a daughter, he treated her like something he owned that could be gotten rid of." Gibbs struggled in speaking to her, he didn't want to lie to her but he also didn't want her to know exactly what had happened with Ziva and her Father, she was far to young to have to understand how truly cold some people were.

Natalie mulled over the information a bit and then spoke, "Does that mean he doesn't love her, like my real Mom doesn't love me?"

Gibbs heart broke a little bit after hearing her words, Tony had done a hell of a job raising Natalie but even though he was probably the most attentive and loving Father Gibbs had ever seen, he couldn't erase the idea from Natalie's mind that the reason she didn't have a biological mother was because she simply hadn't loved her enough.

"Yeah, sweetheart. It's kind of like that." He said, pulling Natalie into a tight hug and kissing the top of her head.

"But you know what?" Gibbs asked her, looking down.

"What?" She asked, her bright green eyes staring back at him.

"You know how having Ziva in your life makes you hurt a lot less?" Gibbs asked.

Natalie nodded her head, yes.

"Well, you do the same thing for her. Because you are in her life, Ziva doesn't ever feel unloved or unwanted. Isn't that how she makes you feel?"

Natalie smiled, "Yes."

"Then that's all that matters." Gibbs said, brushing her hair back behind her ear. "You want to know a secret?"

Natalie nodded her head vigorously.

Gibbs was never good with emotions but there was something about Natalie that gave him a need to be completely honest with her about everything, making her smile was always his highest priority. He knew that if his daughter was still alive, she would have adored Natalie and Natalie would have adored her. He spoke after a short moment of silence, "Having you in my life makes me hurt a lot less too." Gibbs told her.

Natalie smiled and reached in for another hug, "Thanks Gibbs. I love you."

Gibbs smiled and hugged her back, "I love you too, munchkin."

_**Thank you all for reading. I apologize for being a slow updater but I promise you'll get at least one more in the next week (it's already mostly written!).**_

_**I wrote this on a day bed underneath the glorious sunshine and next to the private pool that was attached to my room; if you ever plan to go to the Maldives you must stay at the Soneva Fushi Resort (in the Jungle Reserve suite). It's amazing. I swear I could live there forever!**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! Thank you :]**_


	25. Before We Come Undone

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated, we got to Cairo and with all the turmoil I've been without internet. They closed our downtown campus and my Dad freaked and put us on a plane to Tel Aviv Saturday night, right now we're debating whether we can stay in Cairo for the semester or we need to relocate to Tel Aviv. It's pretty stressful so I'm not sure how put together this chapter will be, my mind seems to be jumping around a lot. Anyway….read & review PLEASE!

"Before We Come Undone"

"I'm just trying to understand who I was and who I am/but you are changing just the same/so can you tell me who's to blame?/could we put our weapons down just to figure this out?"~Kris Allen

Ziva David couldn't make herself get up from the warmth of her bed to face the morning chill of Washington, D.C. for her usual run. Instead she buried her head further into her husband's neck and instinctively, his arms tightened around her. Ziva loved waking up next to Tony, she loved his musky scent, how his hair was always a disaster in the morning and yet somehow still looked great, how his surprisingly strong arms made her feel like there was no place that could possibly be more safe. She had never been one for cuddling but with Tony it was different, with Tony she just didn't want to let go. She opened her eyes and propped her head up on one arm and just studied her sleeping husband.

"Mrs. DiNozzo, are you watching me sleep?" Tony asked, not once opening his eyes.

Ziva smiled at his use of 'Mrs. DiNozzo', she hadn't changed her name so socially she was still Ziva David, but in the comfort of their own home, she was more than happy to be Mrs. DiNozzo.

"Yes I was, Mr. DiNozzo." Ziva said, the grin on Tony's face making her own light up.

Tony opened his eyes and stared at her for a minute. "Good morning, beautiful." He said, caressing her cheek with his hand.

One of the things Ziva treasured most about her relationship with Tony was their honesty, so when he called her beautiful when she woke up with horrible bed head and sleep still in her eyes, she could tell by the sincerity in his eyes, that he meant it, and this always made her feel so unconditionally loved.

"We do not have to be up for another hour." Ziva said quietly.

"Are you propositioning me?" Tony asked, propping himself up with one arm, the mischievous grin on his face made her burst out laughing.

"What if I am?" She said seductively, leaning forward to lock their lips in a passionate kiss.

* * *

Since they had been working longer hours than usual the past couple weeks, Gibbs decided it would be okay to bring Natalie into work instead of calling up the babysitter. He also thought she would be a good distraction for Ziva since Eli would be around all day for the conference.

Gibbs and Natalie rolled into the bullpen at 0745 , a bit later than usual for Gibbs, even for a Saturday, but he just hadn't had the heart to wake Natalie up any earlier than absolutely necessary. The little girl had woken up easily enough but the drive to the Navy Yard had lulled her back to a light sleep.

The elevator opened to Gibbs, one arm carrying a sleeping Natalie and the other carrying a black bag with a big purple heart and gold crown which read "Princess" in the middle and was filled with things to keep Natalie occupied during the day.

McGee was one of the few people in the bullpen and immediately spotted Gibbs.

He smiled at the sight of Gibbs, "Morning, Boss".

Gibbs set down the bag, little girl still in his arms, and shot McGee a stare that let him know he would be on the receiving end of a slap to the back of the head if he didn't wipe the smirk off his face.

McGee immediately went back to working on his computer.

Gibbs went over to Ziva's desk to grab the blanket she kept there in case they ended up working so late that it wasn't practical to go home. He laid the blanket out on the floor behind his desk and carefully placed the sleeping girl and the stuffed penguin she clutched onto it.

At around 0805 Tony and Ziva strolled into the bullpen, both looking significantly less stressed than the night before, their hands clasped together. Normally Gibbs would have objected to this display of public affection at work but he decided to let it go, just for today.

They pulled their hands apart as they made their way to their desks; Tony was the first to speak. "Morning Boss, McGeek."

Gibbs put a finger up to his lips signaling for DiNozzo to lower his voice and then pointing to Natalie, who was sleeping behind him.

DiNozzo's face showed confused and then immediately brightened upon realizing his daughter was asleep behind Gibbs desk.

"We've all been working a lot so I though she deserved to spend some time here."

"Thanks, Boss." Tony said, giving Gibbs a grateful look.

"How you holding up, Ziver?" Gibbs asked.

Ziva smiled, "Much better than yesterday."

Suddenly a head popped up from behind Gibbs' desk. Tony was the first to spot it.

"Well, well, well, did the Peanut have a big night with Gibbs?" Tony said, kneeling to the ground so Natalie could throw herself onto him in a full-force hug.

"Hey, Peanut." Tony said, holding his little girl and stroking her long brown hair, "did you have a good time with Gibbs?"

"Yeah, the movie was so good! We also made macaroni and cheese and painted!" Natalie said, as excitedly as possible for a little girl who had just woken up.

Natalie turned her head to see Ziva, who was seated at her chair. "Mommy." She said, jumping out of Tony's arms and over into Ziva's.

"Shalom, Mammelah." Ziva said, taking great comfort in the embrace of her daughter.

The morning passed slowly, if they didn't get a call about a murder then they would hopefully be out at a reasonable hour, maybe even early. The conference was due to start in an hour and Eli David was due to make an appearance soon.

By mid afternoon Ziva and Natalie had gone to Abby's lab, Natalie needed a nap but refused to indulge and Ziva was hoping Abby would have something to show her and tire her out enough to make her concede to a nap.

* * *

Tony stayed in the bullpen all day. He wanted to talk to Eli David; he HAD to talk to Eli David. He needed to try and make things right, Ziva was finally happy but he knew this was weighing down on her immensely. He needed to fix this for her.

Sure enough, during one of their breaks, Eli David sauntered into the bullpen, eyeing DiNozzo.

"Agent DiNozzo," he said "could I have a word with you, somewhere a little more private perhaps?"

Tony nodded curtly, and got up to lead him to the break room. Since they were practically the only ones there, he was certain it would be empty; walking in he breathed a sigh of relief that he was right.

Tony turned around and stared coldly at Eli David, Tony was not going to be the one to start this conversation and he was making that clear.

"Agent DiNozzo, you have married my daughter." He said calmly.

"Which makes her my wife." Tony said, not willing to let Eli accuse him of anything.

Eli laughed, "You are a stubborn one, I remember that from your last visit to Israel."

Tony grimaced, as good as things were now, it was still hard to think about those few weeks a year and a half ago, the moment when he thought he'd lost Ziva forever.

"That may be, but that's because I want what's best for Ziva."

"I always had a plan for Ziva, she was always the most promising, it was all ruined when she came to America and met you." Eli said, his eyes cold.

"Ziva isn't yours to give away. She isn't some object, she's a person, she deserves to be happy. You treat her like she's disposable, your own personal Mossad Assasin. Did you ever consider what she wanted? That someday she might want to get married and have a family of her own? All she tried to do her whole life was make you proud of her and you send her on a suicide mission. She's the only daughter you have left and you threw her away." Tony said, his voice stern.

"You do not understand my job, nor do you understand what it is like to lose a child." Eli said, his glare stony.

"No, I understand that you've always put your job ahead of your family because that's how you deal with pain. You use your job as an excuse to be emotionally distant. And no, I haven't lost a child and I can't even imagine how horrible that must be. But you didn't have to lose Ziva. You chose to lose her." Tony replied, his voice stern.

"It is too late. I cannot be who Ziva wants me to be." Eli replied, in what Tony sensed was true sincerity.

"Yeah, that may be true but you can try to make it up to her. You can let her know that you're proud of who she's become. That's all she wants." Tony said, his voice calm.

"You are treating her well, I trust." Eli asked.

"I would do anything for her." Tony said, his eyes showing his sincerity.

* * *

Eli stood in the doorway of Abby's office, Ziva was tucked behind the desk, Natalie curled up next to her, staring intently at the pages of a book. It looked like they were almost done so in a moment of kindness, Eli decided not to interrupt.

He heard Ziva's voice, softly reading to the small child sitting beside her, "I'll eat you up I love you so." Ziva read, placing a kiss on the little girl's head and closing the book. She got up slowly and brushed Natalie's hair back as she lay down and got comfortable. Eli noted the expression on her face, it was light and carefree, a smile spread across her face as she made sure the little girl was comfortable.

She turned and saw Eli and her expression immediately faltered. She made her way out and closed the door to Abby's office; seeing that they were alone in the lab she figured Abby must have gone upstairs to bother McGee.

They stood in Abby's lab silently for a moment until Eli spoke.

"You are very good with her. You remind me of your mother, the way you tuck her hair behind her ears." Eli said.

Ziva knew that this was a peace offering of sorts, his way of telling her that he approved of the person she had become. She stayed silent, not sure of how to respond to that.

"I know that I was not the kind of father you needed." Eli said, obviously struggling for words.

Ziva knew this was as close to an apology as she would get.

"I think I turned out all right." She said, smiling at him for the first time in years.

Eli smiled back, "I have missed your smile."

"You are wrong about Tony you know, he does love me." Ziva said, her voice strong and unwavering.

"I know." Eli said, his voice quiet.

Ziva knew she would never get the relationship with her father she so desired as a child, but being angry at Eli wasn't helping, forgiving was easier and it really did make her feel as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders.

"I should get back upstairs." Eli said.

Ziva nodded and smiled as he made his way to the elevator.

* * *

The rest of the day had been quiet and Tony, Ziva, and Natalie had been able to go home by dinner. They stopped for dinner since neither Tony nor Ziva felt like cooking. They arrived home by eight and Natalie, who had a big day, fell asleep quickly after they got home and Tony and Ziva put her to bed.

The couple made their way out to the living room to watch a movie before they too headed to bed. They made themselves comfortable in each other's arms on the sofa and settled in for the movie.

Before Tony could hit play, Ziva turned to him to speak.

"Thank you, Tony." Ziva said, looking him in the eyes.

Tony knew without questioning what she was talking about. "Ziva I'm your husband, you don't have to thank me for defending you." Tony replied, his face dead serious.

"Yes, yes I do. Because you always have, even when we were not together you always have been on my side. I have never had anyone else do that for me." Ziva said, a look of genuine gratitude on her face.

"I love you." Tony said, not breaking their eye contact.

"I love you, too." Ziva said, placing a soft kiss on his lips.

A/N: REVIEW PLEASE? Thank you :] xoxo cerie


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